


The Headmaster’s Daughter

by TargaryensCoven



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Eventual Smut, Everyone Is Wingmanning For Everyone, F/F, Fluff, It doesn’t really make sense now but it will in the future, Salvatore School HSAU, Slow Burn, everyone is human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2020-07-30 10:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20095852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TargaryensCoven/pseuds/TargaryensCoven
Summary: Josie Saltzman hates Penelope Park with a burning passion. But no matter what, the two just keep getting thrown together. As fate would have it, a few arguments, laughs, drunken kisses, and tears later, the selfless and the selfish soon realize that they both need each other to keep the world spinning.No werewolves, vamps, witches, or unicorns.Just a bunch of teenagers too stubborn to admit their feelings.





	1. Chapter 1

  
Many of the students at the Salvatore School considered Penelope Park to be......._a blessing from God,_ as one would say.

Others, such as a particular brunette, considered Penelope Park to be the most infuriating human on the planet.

A “selfish, obnoxious, evil asshole with a heart made of stone that gives shit advice” to be exact.

Maybe she just needed a little prodding, but all in all a normal relationship between Josette Saltzman and Penelope Park was certainly a contingency.

As of this moment, the two were sitting on opposite sides of their Literature class with very ‘interesting and contrasting viewpoints’, as Mr. Williams would put it.

They were arguing about Jane Austen and William Shakespeare.

The rest of the class seemed to be enjoying this time consuming and........_passionate_ conversation between the two, including their teacher, in fact. 

But they had been going on about which writer was better for the past  3 days . Whenever the topic was brought up they’d start fighting about it all over again. Alas, 30 minutes of the day was already taken up, again.

Yes, they had been going off for 30 minutes for the past 3 days.

30 minutes of Josie fuming at Penelope’s remarks.

And 30 minutes of Penelope enjoying all of it.

“Yeah, okay, but Austen writes these complex characters, especially females, who are strong and interesting. We’ve all read Pride And Prejudice. For example, _Elizabeth Bennett.”_

Penelope frowned. “I didn’t really see her importance all that much. The whole point of Pride And Prejudice was so that Elizabeth could end up with Darcy. Shakespeare includes poetic en-“

Josie would’ve scoffed at the girl’s audacity if the whole class wasn’t watching them. “The whole point of Romeo and Juliet was so that they could both die at the end. How is that any better?”

“No, the whole point of Romeo and Juliet was that not all love stories have a happily ever after. Their relationship was beautifully tragic.”

“As for Pride And Prejudice, Elizabeth is a cunning and smart person, while Mr. Darcy is slightly arrogant and, well, sometimes a  _pain. _ Yet in the end they both find themselves in love with one another, and they both realize that their aspects of each other have changed from how they were in the beginning.”

“And that’s where we’re stopping today everyone,” Mr. Williams interrupted. He looked between the two students, who appeared like they had another essay of words ready to say to one other. “We’ll continue this tomorrow. Also, I’m moving the quiz back as well due to,  unpredictable circumstances.”

The bell rang throughout the Salvatore School as students filed out of the classroom, one by one.

Penelope watched as Josie, still furious, packed her things in her bag, and almost walked out without sparing the short-haired girl another glance.

“Miss Saltzman, Miss Park,” Mr. Williams called from his desk at the front as Penelope was about to follow the rest of the class out. She furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity.

“As much as I know you both love conversing about books, I’m going to have to ask you guys to stop so I can actually teach.”

* * *

So yeah, you’d think they would have stopped, after having one of the most strictest and best professors talk to them about their, well,  behavior .

And they did.

In Mr. Williams’ Literature class.

No one said anything about History.

So there again, was Penelope Park and Josie Saltzman. Sitting on opposite sides of the classroom, because they couldn’t stand each other’s faces........No, the truth was that Josie got to class first and took a seat on the side opposite of her’s as of this moment when a certain someone waltzed into the room and sat down next to her, forcing the twin to get up and move across the room because  she couldn’t stand to be in Penelope Park’s presence. If she stayed where she was she would’ve ended up punching the girl in the face in the first 3 minutes of class.

Just then, Mrs. Greasley marched into the room with a stack of papers in her hand. She looked rather furious, considering it was her son’s birthday that day.

“I hope you all haven’t forgotten that we’re starting those projects today,” she said flatly, as she situated everything on her desk in the corner. When no one responded she looked up and shot everyone a cold glare, to which they all shook their heads.

Josie glanced around the room and locked eyes with her best friend. Hope Mikaelson. They smiled at each other.

The moment of happiness was crushed just as quick as it had come as the words, “I’ll be assigning your partners,” was uttered from Mrs. Greasley’s mouth.

The brunette sighed.

The teacher moved to the front of the class, where she gazed around the room as if she were planning on ruining a bunch of people’s lives.

She probably was, with that glint of judgment and mischief in her eyes. She looked like she was breaking everyone down, one by one, uncovering their deepest, darkest secrets. A chill ran down Josie’s spine.

But maybe she was just imagining thi-

“Hope Mikaelson, you’ll be with Landon Kirby.”

_ Oh. _

Mrs. Greasely continued pairing people up as Josie locked eyes with the auburn haired girl, annoyance evident in her eyes. Hope wasn’t really a fan of Landon Kirby’s antics.

After mere moments, the last pair was being called. Mrs. Greasley paused and looked around the classroom again. Josie saw her exhale a little bit, as if she were trying to either hold in a laugh or if she were sorry. Nobody knew.

“Josie, you and Penelope Park would do fine as partners,” was all she said before turning around and yelling for them all to start finding what historical figure they wanted to research.

Suddenly she added, “Also you and your partner will be sitting next to each other for the rest of the year.”

Josie gazed down the row of students to find Penelope Park smiling at her. She then proceeded to give her a finger gun. And then winked.

Maybe Josie would punch her.


	2. To The Wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit about their past.

_Two years ago_

_Freshman Year_

“Dad knows about the party, right?”

Lizzie shot a look at Josie through the mirror she was undoubtedly checking out her outfit in while the brunette, laying on her white sheeted bed with a book in her hand, watched her absentmindedly. Her sister was wearing a white Salvatore Boarding School T-shirt along with a black leather jacket, and a short black skirt. She always went all out when it came to clothes.

The upcoming party was taking place at the old mill, which was hidden in the forest behind the school. A bunch of students from the next year had decided to throw a party because, well, they felt like it. 

As most of the teenagers did their age.

While the blonde was all for spending a night out meeting new people and seeing new faces, Josie, being the introverted one, usually preferred the exact opposite. But she had promised to go to the next party since she bailed on Lizzie the last time due to....’stomach cramps’, but she clearly made that up because she was absolutely fine the entire day. _Thriving,_ in fact.

Lizzie’s gaze returned back to herself. “Of course he does, but he’s getting a little too old to do anything about a bunch of teenagers throwing parties in the woods. Do you already know what you’re going to wear?”

Going to a party was the last thing on Josie’s to-do list, but she ended up nodding anyway just as a figure entered the Saltzmans’ dorm room. It was Hope, in a plain red t-shirt and gray sweat pants. It seemed like she had just taken a nap, her eyes a clouded with drowsiness and her hair slightly a mess.

She strutted over and fell onto Lizzie’s bed in a lifeless heap. “You guys aren’t gonna try and convince me to go to the party too, are you?” she asked, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

“Get up, Mikaelson,” Lizzie spoke, looking away from her reflection to glare at the girl, “You’re going with us whether you like it or not. You can’t stay cooped up by yourself in your room for the rest of your life.”

Hope sat up and eyed Lizzie while Josie, knowing the girl all too well, already knew what she was going to say.

In the most stubborn, _Mikaelson_ voice she could muster, Hope replied, “Watch me,” stood up from the bed, and began to march out of the room. 

She had almost reached the doorway when the twins stepped in her path, forcing her to a halt.

“What else could you _possibly_ want to be doing today?” Lizzie asked curiously.

Hope furrowed her eyebrows at the blonde, as if it were obvious. “Sleeping. Watching TV. Reading a book. Not socializing. Getting a bunch of food from the kitchen because no one’s in the school. Staring at the ceiling in silence. Did I already say sleeping?”

The girl simply _always_ chose to be alone rather spending time with other people. That’s just how she was.

Josie sighed, imagining doing any of those things instead of going to the party. “That does sound like fun,” she whispered in a quiet tone.

Her remark didn’t go unnoticed by Lizzie, who was now glowering at her. “Jo, not helping.” She turned back to Hope. “Consider this as........your early birthday present for the both of us.”

Hope frowned. “Aren’t your birthdays in March? This would be, like, a _very_ early-“

“That......is not the point,” Josie intervened, half-heartedly. “We just want you to experience an important key milestone of life.......teenage...parties.”

Hope’s bright eyes flicked between the twins before they fixated on the ground. After a moment, she sighed in defeat. It was quite literally impossible to win an argument with either of the Saltzman twins, let alone both of them at once.

“Alright, fine,” she stated with an exasperated voice, “I’ll go. But if anyone pisses me off-“

“You’re going to slap them in the face,” Josie and Lizzie said in sync.

A very surprised look materialized on Hope’s face. 

“I....was going to say I‘d leave. Who do you think I am?”

“The same person you were at the last party we brought you to,” the brown haired twin said. 

Lizzie narrowed her eyes at Hope, studying her.

“What?” the girl asked, concerned.

“Did.........you get shorter?”   
  
  


* * *

The party started at 7, giving the woods a gold afterglow from the setting sun. Some of the guys had set up a light deeper by the mill for when it became too dark. Within an hour, there had to be around 100 to 200 students in total.

As the three girls entered the mill, they were greeted by a boy with a great amount of brown, curly hair.

“My three favorite women,” MG exclaimed with a radiant smile, “I see you two persuaded Hope into coming. Hey, the last time you came to a party didn’t you-“

“Shut up.”

“Alright, alright,” he said. He paused awkwardly before continuing, “Well, can I get you guys anything?”

Minutes later, Hope, Josie, and MG were all sat around a bonfire as Lizzie went to talk to a group of boys standing nearby, one of them being Rafael Waithe. If you paid enough attention, though, it was very clear that Lizzie was _only_ talking to Rafael.

A sigh of disappointment echoed throughout the air. Josie, realizing it wasn’t her, looked over to MG who happened to _also_ be staring at Lizzie and Rafael, who were now laughing with each other. Interest sparked in Josie’s veins. 

Last time she checked, MG didn’t have a crush on any one, let alone her twin.

“MG, are you good?”

“What? Oh, yeah. It’s just I.....” he hesitated, “...don’t you, like, _like_ Raf?”

Josie’s gaze landed on the pair again, watching them laugh a little bit.

It was only a crush. She could push her feelings down if it meant that Lizzie was happy.

“Lizzie’s got dibs,” she uttered in a quiet voice.

That’s how it usually was. Josie had a crush on someone, Lizzie went after them because Josie was too shy to, Lizzie won.

“As she always does.” Hope spoke and began to watch the two as well, before glancing at Josie. “So.....” she chimed, “When’s it gonna be your turn then?”

Josie found it funny that she was talking to Hope about this as well, because she had had a mini crush on her the previous year. But after that wild year of events, thankfully, those feelings were long gone.

The brunette shook her head. “Hey I’m going to go get another drink,” was all she said before she got up and left the two to clear her thoughts. 

The lights in the woods had long been turned on. They casted a dim, fluorescent blue, illuminating the leaves on the trees above them. It made the stars seem as though they were shining brighter than usual.

That was the first time Josie saw her.

A girl walked right past her, with short, curly hair flowing behind her. She was talking to a group of girls walking beside her, with a cup in her right hand. She was laughing at something one them had said and hadn’t even noticed Josie at all. The raven-haired girl and her friends kept on walking as the twin eyed them, just as Lizzie showed up next to her, explaining how Raf had asked her to hang out some time. Josie smiled along, her eyes still fixed on the girl until she disappeared from sight. 

She didn’t even know her name, yet she felt like she had just witnessed being in a goddess’s presence. The girl became another unknown face walking among the other students of the Salvatore Boarding School.

“Josie.”

Her chocolate brown eyes broke out of the trance and snapped to the side to find Lizzie eyeing her suspiciously. “Yeah?” she asked, a little, no, _clearly_, dazed.

“Are you okay?” Lizzie asked, amusement dripping in her voice.

“What? Oh, I- yeah,” she stuttered, “I was.... I guess I was just, blinded...uh, by.......angelic light?”

The blonde’s green eyes briefly gazed at the faces around them searching for the cause of her twin being so flustered.

“Are you sure? Because you look like you just saw a.....ghost or something.”

Josie let out a nervous chuckle. “There aren’t any ghosts at the Salvatore School,” she answered bluntly, still searching for the girl she had just seen.

Lizzie ended up shrugging it off and leading her to where MG and Hope were after the twins retrieved drinks for the four of them. The two accepted the drinks without question.

Within minutes three of the four realized that one of was _not_ doing so well. As it turned out, one of the Saltzmans got a cup that was in fact, not punch. Or maybe it was. Either way, it was too late to put the drink back because Hope had already drank it.

_All of it._

Mind you, the cup was a regular, clear, plastic cup that’s always used at parties. Each one had been filled up to the top, half way at the least. Unfortunately for Hope, she was the unlucky candidate to receive the cup. And she was currently walking away from the group.

MG, Lizzie, and Josie watched as Hope started talking to random people, her vocabulary slurred a bit. In a few short moments she’d probably start exposing her darkest secrets.

A frightened look was clearly visible on MG’s face.

“Shouldn’t we......help her?”

“It’s her fault for never leaving her room.”

“Lizzie,” Josie warned. She walked over to Hope, and after apologizing a little bit to Rafael and his friend, she lead her away.

“What- are we leaving? But I was having such a nice conversation about how pen-“

“I feel like I know what you’re about to say so please don’t finish that sentence,” Josie chided.

“Oh..my..god..” MG said, watching the girl. 

Hope looked up at all of them. “I don’t feel good.”

“Josie, oh no do something with her.”

“Lizzie, shut up and help me-“

Just then Rafael and his friend peered over MG’s shoulder. The two of them were watching Hope with mild worry and amusement. The auburn-haired girl was now quietly laughing to herself, her right arm wrapped around Josie’s neck.

“Is she alright?” Rafael asked as a creepy smile slowly formed on Hope’s face. And suddenly, wide eyes snapped up to meet his, making him jump back in horror.

His friend stepped past him and slung Hope’s other arm over his shoulder to which she ruffled his black, curly hair in response.

“And who are _you?” _She asked in a flirtatious tone smirking all too much. Not at all like the Hope Mikaelson most of the students at the Salvatore School knew.

“I-...Landon,” the boy answered before looking to Rafael, who ever so slowly inched closer, before MG quickly stepped up and took the other arm from Josie.

“Do any of you mind showing us where her room is?” he asked the twins.

Lizzie volunteered, and the four left. Leaving Rafael and Josie there watching them take a stumbling, drunk Hope away.

Josie looked over to the boy next to her. “Do you think we should’ve brought her?”

“Probably not. She’s going to kill you and Lizzie tomorrow.”

* * *

“I dare you to....strike up a conversation and flirt _very obviously_ with that girl over there,” the asian boy motioned towards a brunette standing a short distance away. She was wearing a plain gray shirt with black shorts, and her brown hair fell down in soft waves over her shoulder. She looked like she was in the middle of a conversation with the boy standing beside her, who wore a red Salvatore shirt and jeans. They were both facing away, so no one could see their faces from where they were standing on the steps of the mill.

“All right,” Penelope announced as she set her cup down and got off of the railing she was leaning on to begin walking over to the duo.

As she was approaching them, a football flew inches past her face, making her stop dead in her tracks. A few inches closer and she, without a doubt, would’ve lost her vision. 

Penelope’s green eyes glowered at the boy who had thrown it who was now, with all the boldness in the world, laughing.

“Kaleb, do that again and you’ll never see the light of day.”

He put his hands up in defense, as Penelope contemplated going through with the dare. She picked up the ball and tossed it back at him before doing a 180 and heading back to her friends. 

“Giving up so soon, Pen?” the boy taunted.

“Shut up, Jed.”

“Aww, come on, cousin. You didn’t even finish the dare.” Penelope’s six other friends sitting along the steps of the stairs agreed with the dark haired boy. 

Penelope eyed the girl, who was still standing in the same spot as before. Her and the boy were laughing at something a few paces in front of them. It wouldn’t be a good idea to flirt with her if the two were dating. 

She didn’t really feel like flirting with anyone anyway.

That wasn’t a lie.

That’s what she told herself.

Because that wasn’t the reason Penelope didn’t want to do the dare. Part of her just didn’t feel it was important enough to acknowledge.

The _real_ reason was because something about the brunette set her off. 

But Penelope, being the arrogant person she was, would never admit that out loud because she _never_ got rattled by a miniature game of hearts.

But when Jed dared her to go talk to the girl, she hesitated. It was as if something in her gut was being twisted, making her...self conscious? Even though it only lasted half a second, deep down, she knew she did. And she didn’t like it. Especially since she didn’t even know the what the girl looked like. Or what her name was.

She stared at the boy, defiantly.

“Are you sure, Jed? She looks a little too easy.” 

Her cousin laughed, letting the dare go as Penelope perched on the steps. She eyed the two carefully as she took a sip from her cup.

No one noticed, but she had watched them until they had left the party together.

* * *

The following week was when Penelope saw Josie for the first time.

Well, not exactly _saw_.

More like almost cracked each other’s skulls open in a heavy collision.

They had been heading in opposite directions to class when they both turned a corner and ran straight into each other, causing both Penelope and Josie to drop all their things. 

The entire thing was a complete mess. 

The only part that wasn’t a mess was when Josie almost fell and Penelope caught her.

But that wasn’t significant, of course.

It wasn’t like Penelope felt a spark from where her hands held the unfamiliar girl for those 3 seconds.

So they helped each other pick up their things and then after apologizing to one another they continued on with their day like nothing happened.

When Penelope’s friends asked her about it later that day, that’s when she found out that the person she ran into was, in fact, the headmaster’s daughter-

“Josette Saltzman,” Penelope said out loud, letting the name roll off her tongue. It had an......exquisite ring to it.

“Yeah,” her friend answered, “But she prefers being called Josie.”

_Josie Saltzman_, Penelope thought. She had only gotten a glimpse of the girl’s face from the second they ran into each other so her facial features were a little blurry in her mind. But, the one thing Penelope could remember as clear as day were her adorable brown eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave feedback if you guys want (~*•*)~


	3. Damaged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birthdays, secrets, pineapples, and Pedro.

_Present_

Josie knew what type of person Penelope Park was.

Which was why she spent the last two years trying to avoid anything that had to do with her. Wherever she walked, whoever interacted with her, whatever she did, trouble and heartbreak followed. With those seductive eyes and annoyingly irresistible smirk, it was almost impossible for you to _not_ like her. Even Lizzie agreed. But that was mostly because the blonde’s popularity status was slowly being downgraded with each passing day because of her.

But that was beside the point. 

Penelope Park’s heart was _literally_ made of stone.

_As if she even has a heart,_ Josie thought.

The brunette had made it so far, steering clear of the raven-haired temptress. She had stayed out of her clutches for so long, and she wanted it to stay that way. It could’ve been considered her life’s mission.

And then she fell into a trap she didn’t even know existed.

More like _pushed_ into it. By Mrs. Greasley.

Josie, realizing she hadn’t been listening to a word Penelope was saying to her, abruptly set her pen down and held up her hand, her fingers curled together to form a zero. 

“Do you see this?” she spoke, irritation evident in her voice. “This is the number of shits I give about your reputation and.......and quest of sleeping with every person in this school just to break their hearts because you feel like it. _Why_ do you do it? Oh, wait. Let me guess. Because it makes you feel powerful. Or...let’s see, it makes you feel in control.”

Penelope’s eyebrows shot up, clearly impressed at her assumptions. “You’re not wrong.”

“Do you think that’s cute?” Josie asked, wanting to wipe that smug expression right off of Penelope’s pretty face. 

“Do you think it’s cute?”

Josie stared at her, exasperated. How could one person be so self-absorbed? She put the tips of her index finger and thumb together, leaving little to no space in between.

“I’m this close to asking to change partners,” Josie explained, very much annoyed by Penelope’s attitude. 

With wide eyes, the raven-haired girl gazed at Josie’s hand, unfazed. “There’s literally.......nothing there.”

The twin took her hand back.

“Well, now there isn’t.”

Penelope shook her head. “No offense at all, but I just, I feel like I’m being threatened by an adorable teddy bear.”

Josie glared at the girl again and her comparison. “So you’re totally fine with switching partners?”

“I never said I wanted to switch partners.”

“That’s what you’re implying,” the brunette answered, confused as to what the girl was trying to say.

Josie was obviously not like any other person Penelope had dealt with before, shooting down all her comments and remarks as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Josie stopped.

A quiet, “What?” escaped her lips. 

Penelope rolled her eyes. Of course she wasn’t listening. Josie Saltzman was stubborn. How could she forget?

“Are you going to MG’s party tonight?” she repeated.

The twin studied her partner’s face before turning back to their worksheet. “I wouldn’t tell you if I was.”

Penelope pursed her lips and started working on her own paper before continuing, “Why have I only seen you, like, _once_, out of our past three years at the Salvatore School? I mean, seeing as though you’re Dr. Saltzman a.k.a. the _Headmaster’s_ daughter-“

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call you what? The Headmaster’s-“

“Shut up,” Josie enunciated, eyes still locked on the paper.

“Alright........_Jojo.”_

The brunette dropped her head into her hands in sheer embarrassment at the nickname. 

“Oh my god, you’re literally twelve.”

“Yeah, on a scale of one to ten.” Penelope rested her chin on her hand, staring at Josie in amusement. Unlike the twin, she seemed to be having the time of her life. 

Josie shook her head before finally looking into Penelope’s forest green eyes. “You’re insufferable.”

“You’re kind of impossible but you don’t see me complaining,” she shot back while narrowing her eyes at the girl, daring her to make a comeback with another one of her witty responses. But she received none.

The conversation concluded there and they both started to finish the first side of their papers. The figure they had chosen was Julius Caesar, but that was only because they already knew loads of information about him from when the school taught it last year. And they didn’t feel like going to each other’s houses to do research so...there they were.

Penelope was the one to break the silence. “Couldn’t you have used Catcher in the Rye or something?” she asked, eyes still fixed on the sheet.

“What?”

“Why’d you use Pride and Prejudice to compare to Romeo and Juliet when there are so many better books you could have chosen? For example, _Catcher in the Rye._”

“Because then it wouldn’t be fair,” Josie said, simply.

“How would it not be fair?”

The brunette exhaled, “The main thing both Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice are known for are the love between the characters. Catcher in the Rye is about _childhood_....and _adulthood_ and........more serious things.”

“So?”

“Clouded judgment, Penelope. Love changed the story. It made it harder for the characters to see the difference between the bad and the good,” Josie paused, wrote a sentence down, and then continued, “In love stories, it usually ends with either they know the person for who they truly are, or they find out in the end that the person they loved is not at all who they thought they were.”

Penelope frowned. “What if the person _is_ bad, but they end up changing?” 

Josie contemplated answering that question for longer than she wanted to.

“Well then the two get a happy ending. But.....old habits die hard.”

Penelope stopped and teared her eyes away from her paper to look at the girl, clearly shocked by her point of view. Josie was still very focused on the paper.

“But people can change if they really want to.” 

“You’re _right_,” Josie stated sarcastically, “For example, Mr. Darcy,” she shot her a look with her brown eyes.

Penelope watched as Josie went back to doing her work. And then she started working too before looking up again.

The green-eyed girl shrugged in a flamboyant manner.

“I still think you should’ve used a different work. Pride and Prejudice makes absolutely no sense.”

Josie’s glare afterwards could’ve seared through stone from how much annoyance was apparent in it. 

And their daily argument ensued.

* * *

“Guys, I’m getting old.” 

Hope and Josie watched the boy quickly take notes from the textbook next to him. They were currently sitting in the library, sunlight peeking in through the windows.

“MG, you’re not getting old,” the twin quipped, “You’re seventeen.”

He slammed the book shut immediately making the two jump. His eyes were wide, like he just came to the biggest realization in all his seventeen years of being on the planet.

Hope’s eyes were wide too, but mostly in concern. “Did you just figure out the cure to homophobia? Please say yes.”

MG chuckled, “No, I just realized that-“ 

It suddenly looked as if his heart stopped beating. His face had awestruck written across it completely. 

Josie and Hope followed his gaze until it reached a blonde standing in the library’s entrance. She was wearing a navy blue long sleeved shirt with black, high waisted jeans. She had leather, heeled boots and a slightly furious look on her face.

“It’s not even my birthday party and _I’m_ already dressed for it,” Lizzie exclaimed when she was in within a close range to the trio, trying not to annoy the librarians. She grabbed Josie and Hope and yanked them out of their chairs while MG just watched, still unmoving with his jaw dropped. 

“You two need to get ready it’s starting soon,” she ordered and went to guide them out of the library. She took to steps then looked over her shoulder. 

“You should probably get ready too, MG. Also happy birthday,” the blonde added, and then proceeded to leave with her arms tightly interlocked with Hope’s and Josie’s. 

The boy’s brown eyes followed the twin until she could no longer be seen, and then he clutched his heart.

“Oh my _god._ She talked to me.”

* * *

Every now and then, Alaric would allow...._birthday_ parties for students in the school.

Now was one of those times, because MG was actually one of his favorite and most trusted kids. By himself and by everyone at the school. Because the boy barely did anything wrong. 

_Barely._

The main hall was strung with lights, while the chandeliers that loomed from the ceiling were shut off and moonlight casted from the window made the room glow almost silver. 

For most occasions that took place in the Salvatore School, people would have to wear formal clothes, tuxedos, dresses and all. Like for the Saltzman twins’ 16th birthday the previous year. But MG insisted that everyone wear what they wanted to, so Josie wore a black skirt, and a white blouse with a black ribbon wrapped around the collar. Hope just wore a black shirt and jeans.

They were walking down the stairs into the main hall when Hope asked, smirking, “So what’s up with you and Penelope?” 

Josie was so caught off guard she almost fell down the stairs. 

Thankfully nobody noticed.

Except for Hope, of course.

“What are you talking about?”

Hope’s gaze shifted into the crowd. Josie looked down, sure enough, Penelope Park was standing some distance away from the stairs, leaning on the wall in her Salvatore School uniform, and her cape. Watching her.

The room didn’t fall a away, time didn’t slow, it wasn’t anything like that. An annoyed feeling just grew in her chest. The way the green eyed girl was looking at her made the twin feel uneasy.

They reached the bottom and Penelope’s face was hidden by the sea of students.

MG emerging and walking towards the pair snapped Josie out of her thoughts. He was wearing his Salvatore uniform as well with a jacket to top it off. And, of course, his Concord 11s, which he refused to wear except for special events.

He handed both of them drinks. “Right on time, come on,” he motioned for them to follow him.

Hope frowned. “This isn’t spiked, is it?” to which she got no reply.

He lead them to a small group, which included Lizzie, Kaleb, Rafael, Landon, and none other than Penelope, who was speaking to Jed beside her. 

Landon, who was standing next to Hope, immediately slipped her cup from her hands and replaced it with his.

Hope’s eyebrows shot up, confused as to what he just did.

“Are you, like, planning on-“

“All the drinks are spiked, well, except for mine and Raf’s,” he clarified with a grin. “From what I’ve seen-“

“Okay, just.....be quiet,” she urged, and turned her attention away from the boy. “So, what are we doing?”

* * *

The moment Penelope saw Josie, she felt her heart skip a beat.

The minute she realized said feelings, she mentally punched herself in the face.

_This isn’t you,_ she thought to herself. Penelope Park being intimidated by a girl? Specifically Josie Saltzman? Literally the _nicest_ person at the Salvatore School? Maybe in a different universe. 

She spotted Jed among the crowd and headed towards him, hoping to clear her mind. It was when he spotted her that she realized he was standing with a group of people. One of who being Josie’s sister.

But it was too late because her cousin was already motioning for her to join them. 

And so she did.

Jed provided her with a _bit_ of entertainment, sharing with her how the water girl for the Salvatore School’s football team quit because one of the kids from Mystic Falls High tackled her in the middle of a game, giving her a broken arm and black eye. Not long after, Hope and a certain twin joined them, along with MG.

Her mind slowly tuned out of the conversation. As her thoughts wandered absentmindedly her eyes subconsciously fell upon a girl with pouty lips and brown hair, a few strands pulled back into a braid so that you could see her brown eyes clearly.

Brown eyes that were looking directly back at her.

Electricity ran up Penelope’s spine before she pulled her gaze away quickly.

Over the loud cacophony of voices in the hall, Hope asked, “So, what are we doing?”

MG raised his hand to grab their attention before taking a sip from his cup, and announced, “Since it’s Junior year, and we don’t know each other _all that well_, well besides you two,” he pointed at Josie and Lizzie, “and......you two,” he pointed at Penelope and Jed, “I was thinking... we should all say something about ourselves that most people don’t know about us.”

The eight of them looked at each other as an awkward cloud of silence fell over them.

Kaleb coughed, “Well, uh, I can play the piano and I.........sing.”

Penelope’s eyes widened. She certainly did not know that. Telling from everyone else’s faces, they didn’t know that either, let alone expected it.

“Rafael likes poetry,” Landon blurted out.

“Dude, that’s not how this works,” Rafael spoke before a thought came into his head. Turning back to the group he said, “Landon secretly writes love songs in his ‘diary’.” 

Landon looked at his friend, a betrayed expression on his face. 

“Josie is a helpless romantic,” Lizzie babbled.

“Lizzie has a pair of glasses she wears at night that she doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

Lizzie’s gaped at her sister. “Josie!”

Penelope looked over at her cousin, who was already gazing at her with an evil smile on his face.

She knew what he was going to say. 

“Jed,” she cautioned. “Don’t you da-“

“Penelope put sex herbs in the pasta and some of the drinks back in freshman year-“

“Oh I remember that,” Hope interrupted, chuckling a bit. She turned to Rafael, “You told me that and I was going to tell the twins but then they interrupted me.”

Kaleb threw his hands up, “Wait, wait, wait. ‘Sex herbs’?”

“What are sex herbs?” Josie questioned.

Penelope glanced at the girl before dropping her face into her hands.

MG started to slowly back away from the group, looking at all of them as if they had 2 heads.

”I’m gonna......go get some ice.”

“Me too,” Penelope sighed and then followed the birthday boy away from all the commotion.

“You really told me you were gonna shoot your shot today,” Penelope told him while sitting on the counter with a brownie in her hand.

MG shrugged, searching the kitchen for another snack. “It kinda got a little out of hand.”

“That...._therapy session_ of exposing secrets....was your plan?”

“It _was_ a good plan,” he reasoned, “........in my head.”

Penelope glanced at the clock; the party would be over at eleven and it was currently nine, which gave them.......

“You have two hours, Milton.”

MG sighed, deep in thought. He walked over to the freezer and grabbed a bucket of ice out. 

“Have you thought of a plan?” she asked.

MG sighed again. “Nope.”

“Have you thought of a way to get her attention?”

“Also no.”

She got off the counter and walked over to the olive skinned boy until she stood directly in front of him.

MG stiffened, very much confused. He laughed nervously, “What are you doing?”

Both of their eyes turned to the door as footsteps could be heard, getting closer with each passing second.

“Don’t freak out,” Penelope spoke, slowly inching toward him. “Just trust me.”

And then she kissed him.

The boy hesitated, before kissing her back as well.

She liked to believe that every thought of Josie Saltzman dissipated from her mind during that kiss.

Which was just a tad bit ironic because a moment later, Josie walked into the room.

The first thing she saw was Penelope, with her tongue in MG’s mouth.

There they were, making out in the middle of the kitchen. The two hadn’t even noticed Josie was standing there.

Lizzie’s voice suddenly echoed down the corridor as well.

MG pulled away from the raven haired girl at the sound of the blonde. 

Lizzie entered the kitchen. “Josie what are you-“ 

She stopped in her tracks, as shocked as her sister at what she saw displayed in front of them.

The twins looked _speechless,_ and the kitchen was silent for what could have been five seconds to a whole hourbefore Lizzie spoke up.

“What the hell is going-“

She was interrupted as fire alarms began blaring across the halls of the Salvatore School. The sprinklers went off, and seeing as there were ones _all over_ the kitchen, they were immediately soaked, head to toe.

It didn’t wipe away their shocked expressions, though.

The four rushed out into the hall to find the whole school in a frenzy, confused.

Hope, Landon, and Rafael materialized out of the people running around. 

“What happened?” Hope shouted over the tormenting sounds resonating through the school.

Lizzie was the one to respond, “MG was making out with Pineapple herself!”

Penelope rolled her eyes. _Even Satan was better than that._

“No I meant what caused the alarms to go off?”

Not a moment after, Penelope was almost toppled over by a small figure that ran to her and instantly latched onto her legs. She looked down and was greeted by a young boy.

Pedro.

She knelt down and took his face into her hands gently. His expression radiated.......guilt.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, so that only Penelope’s ears could hear.

“Sorry for what?”

“I-“ he stuttered, “I threw a ball at the fire alarm by accident.”

Penelope sighed and looked up to the group, who were watching her expectantly.

“Pedro set off the alarms,” she informed them.

Josie kneeled down beside her.

“Which one did you set off?” She asked.

Pedro offered to show her, and within a few minutes the blaring noises stopped. The two returned, not much like the students who ran outside into the front yard.

There was probably going to be an announcement tomorrow by Alaric, who would also probably never let them throw a party inside of the Salvatore School again.

There wasn’t really anything they could do about it now.

Jed walked towards them casually and patted MG on the shoulder.

“Yeah.....we’re definitely redoing your birthday party at the old mill.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is where Penelope and Josie’s story will finally set into motion so.......get ready.  
Also how much angst do you guys want?


	4. Cayendo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Josie doesn't understand what's happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed extra characters so I just added Maya and Sebastian pls don’t come for me if they’re nothing like they are in s2.

_September_

After weeks of the nothing less than epic fail of a birthday party the Salvatore students experienced the previous week, it was time to redo it. Despite almost drawing the entire Mystic Falls fire station to their school, everything was normal. People continued on with their lives, and on with school. That tiny incident was simply a bump in the road for the long life ahead of them all. Everyone was _fine_.

Except for Josie, of course, who wanted to crawl in a hole and die every time Penelope Park crossed her line of vision in the hallway or came within a 10 foot radius of her. Which didn’t help her at all considering they had two forty-five minute classes together later that day.

As the following period inched closer, Josie could feel the dread and annoyance settling deep within her chest. Seeing the green-eyed devil was not something she was looking forward to. She had attempted to avoid the girl at all cost, which wasn’t that hard because she had been doing that for the past two years of her high school career, but seeing as though they had classes together this year, the entire situation was inevitable. Not to mention she was avoiding one of her best friends too.

The bell rang and Josie packed up her things before strolling out of the room, to where she ran straight into MG.

They were both stunned. Josie being the first to recover, tried to walk past him before he latched onto her arm, a guilty expression clear as day on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in regret and his brown eyes stared back at her’s. The twin wasn’t surprised as her arms, without another thought, immediately wrapped around him in a hug. She knew she forgave too easily, but that was just who Josie Saltzman was.

One time in fifth grade, she ran into a cabinet in one of the classrooms......and apologized to it.

It was on accident, but the point still stood. In Josie’s mind.

“I’m sorry,” MG spoke as they pulled away. “Penelope said-“

“Forget what Penelope said. What were you _thinking_ listening to her?”

MG let out a sigh. “She was helping me.........shoot my shot.” His gaze shifted downward to his feet avoiding Josie’s stare.

“By what?” she asked expectantly, “Making out with you in the middle of the kitchen?”

The boy opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted as a voice over the speakers announced that class was starting in two minutes.

“I’ll talk to you later,” MG said, before turning around and walking down the hall to his next class, leaving Josie to try and understand why MG and Penelope would kiss even though, she knew for a fact, they did not like each other in that way at all. She didn’t have time to dwell on the matter though, hearing the warning ring. She strode quickly to History and arrived moments later just as the bell sounded, echoing off of the walls of the school.

She sat down at a desk and slipped the homework out of her bag as a shadow suddenly loomed over her. She didn’t even need to look up to know who it was. The annoyance that boiled in her gut subconsciously said it all.

“Hey, Jojo,” Penelope’s lavish voice spoke, “Wanna come over later and binge watch and chill?”

Josie frowned.

Was Penelope Park flirting with her?

She shook her head. She was imagining things, of course.

Josie peered at her in disdain as the girl took the seat beside her. Penelope took out her things as well and fixed her gaze on Josie smugly.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what you did last week.”

Penelope pouted in confusion. “What _did_ I do?” she asked mockingly.

Josie, figuring that that would be her response, shot back, “You tell me,” before tearing her brown eyes away from the brunette. But Penelope remained unfazed, as she always did.

“I went to a party.....spent some quality time with my friends,” she smirked, “and....maybe pissed off a shy introverted bookworm while at it.”

“If making out with MG is what you call quality time with friends, I’ll have to politely ask to switch partners.”

Penelope sat back and eyed Josie. “I doubt you’re actually gonna do that considering you made that same remark last week. But go ahead.”

The look on her face was way too tranquil.

It both agitated and angered the twin.

Josie, being the stubborn person she was, put the past behind her. She was stuck with the evil temptress, as much as she hated to admit it. The glare that crossed her face afterward probably could have seared through the floor, but the last thing she wanted to do was give Penelope the satisfaction of getting on her nerves.

“Don’t corrupt MG. Or any of my friends for that matter,” the girl said as the teacher walked into the room.

“I was just offering him a bit of guidance.”

Josie just sighed, before she replied, “No, you weren’t. Your evil meddling was to cause chaos, and I don’t want me or anyone I know to be a part of that.” The conversation ended there as Mrs. Greasley started giving directions.

Josie didn’t really understand the relationship she had with Penelope. She hated her, yeah, but they weren’t exactly enemies........and at the same time they weren’t friends either.

So what were they?

Mrs. Greasley's voice disrupted her thoughts. “Class this is our new student......“

The brunette frowned, looking up_. New student?_ Her father never told her or Lizzie about this, even though he usually did.

“-who just transferred here with her family. Her name is Maya Machado.” Just as she spoke the name, a girl walked into the room with so much confidence it could have made the lights shatter. She exuded the same energy as the girl Josie hated with all of her soul.

As soon as she saw the two lock eyes, she knew the rest of the year was going to be a mess.

* * *

“I’m serious, Peez. That was a terrible idea.”

“Milton, did you see how _your_ idea went about?”

MG let out a breath as he walked between the bookshelves of the library. Penelope watched him from her seat in one of the velvet chairs, slightly amused.

“But now she _definitely_ won’t see me in any way romantically,” he muttered, snatching a book out of its place. The Goldfinch.

By Donna Tartt. One of Penelope’s favorite writers.

Penelope set her heels on the wooden table in front of her, the light shining in and reflecting off of their black color. “But she saw you making out with one of her archenemies, _me_.”

MG was now reading the summary on the back of the book. “What?” he asked in confusion.

“Lizzie Saltzman knows Milton Greasley isn’t just a comic book nerd.”

A small realization seemed to dawn in his eyes. “That’s a weird way of looking at it.”

Penelope shrugged. “You’re in the game now, MG.” She stood up and when she turned around she was met by a girl with wavy black hair and brown eyes. She looked particularly lost.

“Hi,” she spoke, casually with a hint of awkwardness, “Do you know where the Advanced Civics Textbooks are supposed to be?”

MG intervened, appearing at Penelope’s side, “They’re over that way,” he pointed to the right of them, to where a tall shelf stood against the wall. He immediately held out his hand and flashed the girl his usual MG smile. “Milton Greasely, _MG_, for short, at your service.”

The girl took his hand and gave the boy a sly smile. “Maya Machado.”

“And this one here is the one and only-“

“Penelope Park,” The green-eyed girl said. She offered her hand to Maya, which she gladly shook.

And then Penelope proceeded to kiss the top of the brunette's hand as the Saltzman twins walked into the library. Lizzie’s grumble of aggravation was enough to make Penelope smirk with amusement. She really didn’t love anything more than annoying the blonde.

Josie on the other hand.........Penelope wasn’t sure.

The twins approached them as Maya began walking in the other direction, unaware of the following scene.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lizzie asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.

MG frowned. “We were helping her find a textbook.”

Lizzie’s glare suddenly shifted to the olive skinned boy, making him step back a bit in scarce fear before her eyes returned to the girl in front of her.

“Are you trying to corrupt her and make her your pawn?”

Penelope rolled her eyes. “If this was a game, Lizzie, I’d already’ve won. I’m just trying to help a few kindred spirits.”

Lizzie scoffed at the shorter girl’s said intentions. “You should stay away from her.”

Josie just stood behind her sister, but she was clearly glowering at Penelope and MG too. Mostly at Penelope though.

She sarcastically held her hands up in surrender and in return both the twins walked away without sparing the two a second glance.

Except for Josie, who shot Penelope one unreadable look for half a second before following Lizzie.

MG sighed.

“Now _that_ blew all my chances.”

“You still have one more shot,” Penelope pointed out, almost incoherently.

MG narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh, really?”

“What? You really think I would run out of ideas?”

Her friend shrugged before looking back at the shelf they had pointed Maya to. She was no longer there, but one of the blue books were missing. She had left.

“You’re not actually gonna corrupt that new girl, are you?”

Penelope let out a soft chuckle. “We’re all corrupted MG. Some of us just more than others.” The raven haired girl patted MG on the shoulder before she walked to exit the library. She stopped in the doorway and looked back at her friend expectantly.

“Are you.........coming or not?”

* * *

The rest of the school day went on as per usual.

Except for Lizzie ranting about how evil Penelope Park was the entire way back to their dorm and so on.

But the thing was, Josie agreed with what her sister was saying. Associating with Penelope only lead to drama, trouble and heartbreak, three of the few things Josie hated. In fact, almost everything that Josie despised, Penelope was.

Lizzie’s groan of indignation snapped Josie out of her thoughts.

“She thinks she can just do whatever she wants and there won’t be consequences. She literally has everyone in this school wrapped around her finger,” she paused, and Josie looked over at her sister from her bed, who was lying on her side glaring at the lamp.

“But not us,” the brunette concluded.

“And not me,” Hope said walking out of the bathroom and laying at the foot of Josie’s bed, where she stared at the ceiling.

A silence fell between the three, before Lizzie spoke up again.

“Guys I think I’ll sit out for MG’s party tonight.”

Josie was at a loss for words and looked at Hope, who’s blue eyes seemed as shocked as Josie’s brown ones.

“Lizzie Saltzman missing out on a party?” Hope asked in confusion, as if she never thought that that day would come. Turns out she was thinking the same thing.

“Yes. I’m turning over a new leaf. And now you both need to go to the party and enjoy it as best you can, for me,” she feigned a look of sadness.

Hope sat up worriedly, walked over to the door, and then cracked it open. “I was actually planning on just staying inside and-“

Lizzie glared daggers at the auburn haired girl.

Hope closed the door with a soft click, never taking her eyes off the blonde, “Or not.” She pursed her lips and retreated back to her spot on Josie’s bed.

Another silence fell over the three.

“Jo, are you alright? You’ve been oddly quiet the past few hours,” Lizzie spoke suspiciously, eyeing her sister who was laying on her side under her white sheets, glaring off into space.

Josie hadn’t even realized she’d been so silent. She’d had so much running through her mind the last 5 hours, and most of her thoughts were revolving around a girl with short raven black hair and green, emerald eyes.

But Lizzie couldn’t know that.

Technically, she could, because the only thing Josie was thinking about was how much she hated Penelope. She hated how she acted like she knew everything, how she walked with so much confidence it was annoying, how everyone at school liked her, and how she criticized Pride And Prejudice so easily with all her being even though it was one of the best written books of all time. And don’t think she had forgotten about her probably convincing MG to conspire with her to get Maya within her grasp earlier.

Although she hated to admit it, that was affecting her differently for some unexplainable reason.

“Josie,” Lizzie said more concerned.

The brunette rid her head of all thoughts containing the she-devil and just nodded.

“I’m okay,” she said, just above a whisper. “I think I’ll stay in with you, Lizzie. I really don’t feel like socializing toda-“

The blonde stood up abruptly, nostrils flared.

“I swear, I will drag you both to the party myself if you don’t go.”

Josie and Hope just looked at her. Unconvinced.

Lizzie crossed her arms. “I could easily get Rafael to bring Landon Kirby over and-“

Hope gasped in terror, “Fine we’re going!”

Another pause.

“Only if you’re going,” she added.

Lizzie groaned in annoyance, before getting up and marching over to her closet and swiftly grabbing the handle before yanking the door open.

* * *

Hope, Lizzie, and Josie found MG perched among the steps of the mill, laughing at Kaleb, who was rapping some random Nicki Minaj song at the top of his lungs. As soon as the boy saw the three girls his face shot into a grin.

As they approached, Josie spoke up first.

“Happy birthda-“

MG threw us hand up to silence her. “I told you guys. It’s not my birthday anymore and I want you guys to just enjoy today and spend some time with your friends.”

“But, MG, you’re their only friend,” Penelope’s voice chimed in unexpectedly. The girl was leaning against a tree, hidden in its shadow with her usual smirk and all. She was wearing black jeans and a black half sleeved shirt that fit her body perfectly.

Not that Josie noticed.

Lizzie loomed at the girl’s presence. “Oh, look. It’s Satan.”

“Oh, look. It’s the princess.”

“Jokes on you, Blair Bitch, I’m a quee-”

“The only thing you are is a black hole of-“

“Can you both not?” Josie intervened mystified, although she shot the irritated look she reserved for Penelope at her.

Penelope just smiled in return.

And there was that feeling again. The same one she got when she saw Penelope socializing with Maya.

Josie absolutely despised the feeling with all her soul, because she didn’t know what it was.

Better yet, she didn’t even want to know.

“You all need to settle down,” MG interrupted, “go get a drink.”

Hope’s eyes went wide in utter remembrance. The trauma was so clear on her face it could’ve been seen a mile away. She put her hands up.

“I am _fine_. I am _great_. You guys go ahead.”

Just then a boy with black curls and green eyes emerged from the darkness of the forest.

_No better time than for Landon Kirby to show up at this exact moment,_ Josie thought.

Lizzie gaped in annoyance at Landon. “Okay. So we’ve got Satan and The Hobbit within our presence.“

Landon ignored her. “We’re playing beer pong over by the-“

A bunch of whoops and cheers echoed off the trees.

“.......bonfire. You guys should come.”

“Absolutely not,” Hope said, final. She wouldn’t meet the boy’s gaze and instead kept her eyes locked on the ground.

“Well, Raf told me they weren’t using beer this time to avoid any mishaps or anything. You’re always welcome to join us.” Landon began to walk away, and Lizzie, too entranced by the mention of Rafael, followed him.

Hope sighed, turned to MG and Josie, pointed at Lizzie and Landon while pursing her lips, and followed the two away.

“And then there were three,” Penelope spoke. Josie had almost forgot that the girl was there.

“Go away, evil one,” Josie muttered, irritated.

Penelope saluted her and responded, “Already gone,” before turning around and walking the other way.

MG poked Josie in the shoulder.

“She’s not as bad as she seems,” he insisted calmly.

Josie exhaled. The evil temptress had her best friend under her spell too. “I honestly don’t want to know and I don’t care.”

She really didn’t. Why would she care if Penelope Park just so happened to have a human soul inside of her cold, lifeless, arrogant, annoyingly persistent exterior?

But maybe she just liked it that way because that’s the only thing Josie knew Penelope as. The popular, mean girl heartbreaker. The girl Josie wanted nothing to do with.

Suddenly a mob of guys came over, bringing the brunette back to reality. It was a group of about ten, who all somehow whisked MG away in a moment leaving Josie alone.

She stood there in confusion, trying to process what exactly just happened. Well now she had to go find someone else to confide with.

Josie contemplated ditching the party, but Lizzie wouldn’t have liked that. So she decided to look for her sister, who was undoubtedly making out with Rafael Waithe somewhere, and Hope......

Josie decided to look for the Mikaelson first. Because it was less likely that she’d find her in an embarrassing position.

She wandered throughout the forest for several minutes before she heard a bunch of cheers from a group of students nearby. Curiosity took over, bringing her feet towards the commotion to find Penelope Park, smirking, standing in the middle of the group next to a table. Maya Machado was beside her.

A boy emerged from the crowd and handed Penelope a small pieces of lime along with a few shot glasses. His hair was a dark shade of brown, with piercing blue eyes that reflected the ocean. She placed the stuff next to the tequila bottle sitting on the table.

She paused. “Where’s the salt?”

He looked at the guy behind him. It was Jed.

The Asian boy shrugged. “I thought you were getting it, Sebastian.” He turned back and headed off to retrieve the missing piece of the game.

“You know how this goes, right?” Josie heard Penelope ask.

Maya nodded. But then she frowned, seeming a little more pale than usual. “Actually, Pen, I don’t feel too good. I think I’ll sit this one out.”

_Pen?_

Josie watched as Penelope nodded in understanding and Maya left, disappearing within the darkness.

“Well, I guess I’ll just need to find another contestant,” the raven-haired girl announced.

Josie found it a little irritating that a lot of the people there seemed to want to volunteer.

Why, was a question she didn’t want to answer.

And then the unimaginable happened.

Josie could’ve sworn a magnetic force pulled her forward because she didn’t even realize what was happening until she was standing three feet away from Penelope, within the circle. When the girl’s eyes fell on her, she seemed just as surprised as she was.

Penelope’s smirk suddenly almost seemed.....confused?

No........._nervous_.

But the expression disappeared just as it had come and quickly turned confident. “Hey Jojo,” she said in her usual flirtatious tone. “What are you doing here?” Suddenly a few people yelled in approval from the crowd. And then more followed.

”It looks like you have a contender,” Sebastian spoke, staring them down.

Probably too late to back out now.

More cheers could be heard.

Penelope’s head tilted in amusement. “I guess you’re stuck with me.”

Josie didn’t like that at all. She didn’t like the weight and attention from the crowd of people. And she definitely didn’t like the way Penelope was looking at her. The way she always looked at her. There was too much intensity in it.

She wanted to speak. She wanted to leave and find Hope or her sister or MG or anyone. But the words wouldn’t come.

But maybe it was because part of her refused to crack under the pressure.

Josie let out a slow breath. “All right. What do I have to do?”

It wasn’t what she had to do, but more so what Penelope had to. Leaning against the table, Josie suddenly regretted ever coming to the party in the first place.

“Basically, you’re gonna hold this,” Penelope held up the lime, “in between your lips. Because I’m gonna have to take it once we’re finished.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Josie suggestively and received a glare in response.

“Ok. What next?”

“I just get to sprinkle some of this,” she held up a little jar of salt, “anywhere on your body. That you consent to, of course. I’m not gonna lic-“

“Ok, shut up. And?”

“Afterwards I drink a shot, get the lime, then bam we’re done.” She made a face.

Josie narrowed her eyes at the girl. “What was that?”

Penelope’s eyebrows shot up. “What was what?”

”That thing you just did.”

”What thing?”

“That face.”

“What face?”

“That face you just made. Like you were about to say something.”

“I really wasn’t.”

Josie frowned and got off the table to which she began to walk away before Penelope held onto her arm and stopped her.

“It’s just if the audience wants the players to do one more round then they have to.” She let go of her. “You can leave if you really want to.”

Josie was slightly taken aback by Penelope’s sincerity. And she was even more taken aback when she found herself staying.

“Alright,” Sebastian tuned down the group of people surrounding them. “You get thirty seconds to pull it off. If the audience approves you’ve gotta go one more time.”

Penelope turned around and smirked in challenge. “Are you sure you don’t wanna opt out, Saltzman?”

Penelope’s annoying banter fueled Josie’s confidence. “Of course. Why would I?”

“What if Lizzie sees you?”

_That’s right_.

Josie paused. She totally forgot about Lizzie and Penelope’s rivalry. She had no doubt that her twin would be furious if she saw what Josie was about to do.

But something in Josie told her to stay where she was.

Jed’s voice echoed through the air. “Ready.”

Penelope glanced at Josie’s brown eyes and handed her the lime.

“Steady,” Sebastian yelled.

Suddenly Penelope was standing breaths away from her. Staring right into her soul.

“This means nothing,” Josie said, so that only the raven-haired girl could hear.

And then the timer started.

Josie moved back against the table as Penelope took the salt and sprinkled it, letting it all fall along her neck before placing both her hands on either side of the girl.

And when her tongue slowly ran along her neck, Josie’s eyes shut closed. Penelope continued until she reached her jaw, before letting go and starting back at the base of her neck again. Her hot breath was sending shivers down Josie’s spine.

The brunette forced her eyes open as soon as she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be enjoying any of this. Penelope being this close to her wasn’t supposed to spike adrenaline in her veins. It wasn’t supposed to make her feel whatever the hell she was feeling.

But it did.

It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion, the people watching them, Penelope’s movements, and then when the girl planted a kiss on Josie’s pulse point and pulled away, her brain stopped working.

When she opened her eyes, all she could focus on were Penelope’s emerald eyes, reflecting the small lights strung across the trees.

The girl took the shot and leaned in to get the lime Josie absolutely forgot about.

Penelope held her stare all the while taking the lime away, their lips brushing. And she lingered there for a moment that felt like a lifetime, before pulling away as if she were forcing herself out of a trance.

Josie could’ve sworn Penelope’s eyes fell back to her lips.

The loud clapping and cheers that erupted from the students watching snapped her out of the haze.

Jed emerged from behind one of the guys. Eyeing the two girls mischievously. “Almost beat the record. Looks like they want another round, cousin.”

Penelope was facing the other way now, so she didn’t see the flash of panic that crossed Josie’s face, and thankfully it was dark enough so that no one could tell her face was irritatingly flushed either.

The raven-haired girl turned her attention to the crowd, looking for a response. The majority of them shouted in approval.

She looked back over her shoulder. “Well, Jojo, the people have spoken.”

The brunette had no idea how she was tolerating all of this. Why she was up there in the first place. Why she wasn’t leaving. It wasn’t like her at all. And she hated Penelope Park with all 65 inches of her body.

At least, she was supposed to.

So what happened?

Maybe it was because Penelope Park wasn’t the Penelope Park that Josie Saltzman had made up in her mind from all the rumors and stories she had heard over all those years of being at the Salvatore School.

When Penelope inched back towards her, not a single cell in her body told her to go. To find Lizzie or Hope or MG. Everything was telling her to stay where she was.

And Penelope was so close to her now that her scent of vanilla, trees, and roses filled her senses.

Josie was tempted to just stay there for the rest of the night, with the girl she hated with all of her soul. It was bound to turn out to be one of the best or worst mistakes Josie had ever made in her life.

Yet she wanted to find out.

But the moment was interrupted when Landon Kirby’s voice yelled her name from a few yards away. Followed by a laughing groan that came from none other than Hope Mikaelson.

Josie’s head shot to the direction of the sound, where Landon was helping a drunk Hope once again, with her arm slung over his shoulder.

“I’m never going to a party again,” Hope said drowsily. She sighed in defeat.

“What happened?” A familiar voice babbled accusingly, materializing from the trees.

It was Lizzie. Rafael appeared behind her, confused.

“Well, she, uh, kind of got drunk.”

Lizzie glared at Landon. “You were supposed to be watching her, you half melted two f- I thought you said they were using water!”

Landon put his hands up, almost dropping Hope in the process. “That’s what they told me!”

Lizzie looked at him incredulously. “It’s called _beer pong_ for a reason, you dumb-witted 120 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone Dracula.”

“Alright, alright, calm down,” MG butted in, “we can bring her back to her dorm before she does anything weird-“

Before anyone could do anything Hope blurted out, “Penelope was licking Josie’s neck.”

It seemed like Lizzie didn’t buy the girl’s words until she realized Josie was standing against the table. Her blue eyes went wide.

It took a moment before Josie also realized she was standing against the table.

The brunette looked over at Penelope, who was already watching her intently. No smirk, no intense gaze. Nothing.

She was so massively screwed.

* * *

“Everything just ends up failing. I should just give up now.”

“MG, no. After everything you, and I, have sacrificed for your “one true love,” you’ve come too far to back out now.”

The boy sighed. “But my plans never work.”

“I wonder why,” Penelope shook her head and averted her gaze to look around his dorm room from her seat on the edge of his bed. “Spin the _fucking_ bottle was your plan this time? The chances of you both getting picked is like.......like the chances of me sleeping with Hope Mikaelson. Never gonna happen.”

She paused, contemplating what she had just said before continuing, “Well, I mean maybe in another universe because we’re both really fucking hot but-“

“Why do you always shit on my ideas, Peez.”

Penelope just shrugged.

“And weren’t you the one who said I should try to do something tonight?”

Penelope’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Yeah. But not _that_.”

His shoulders drooped and he leaned his head against the wall, staring off into the distance. He looked about ready to give up. “Maybe in another life I end up with someone else.”

“With the number of realities out there, Milton, there’s probably one where we end up together. Don’t worry. You guys will end up together in time.”

“There’s probably a reality where we’re like, superhuman and have to fight monsters while also getting our hearts broken by the love of our lives,” MG said, half-heartedly.

“I’m sure there is,” Penelope responded, before standing up and sitting beside her friend on the floor. She rested her head on his shoulder, finally shutting her eyes after a long day.

When they were closed, the only thing she could see were a pair of brown eyes.

* * *

Lizzie’s pacing made Josie feel anxious. As soon as the blonde had realized what was going on, she had dragged Josie back to their room to ‘talk’ about their situation.

“I can’t believe you would do_ body shots_ with the She-Devil. You couldn’t have chosen anyone else.”

Josie contemplated explaining to her sister that she hadn’t exactly _chosen_ anything, but rather she was pushed into the center by.......a mystical force that was probably out to get her and she had no idea existed.

“Why did you even agree to do it?” Lizzie asked in disbelief. She glowered at her sister expectantly.

Josie tried to avoid eye contact, but soon enough she looked at her sister and said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Lizzie. It was just a dare.”

The weight of that lie laid on her shoulders.

Her sister scoffed. “Dare or not you should have stood up for yourself.”

She probably should have. But how was she supposed to tell her sister that she didn’t exactly want to? That part of her wanted to stay exactly where she was for the rest of the night?

Josie pushed all those thoughts out of her mind. She hated Penelope Park. She hated how everything was a game to her. How she only payed attention to the things that revolved around her. And she hated how her kisses and touches sent jolts of electricity through her veins.

Or maybe Josie hated it because it made her feel like she was falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> into the heart of an immense darkness.....
> 
> Thanks for reading y'all! I'm sorry for not updating this fic in so long life's been absolutely wack. I'll try to post more often.
> 
> as for the chapter.......sorry if there are any grammatical errors. anyway, feedback? comments? how are y’all feeling? lemme know


	5. Need The Sun To Break

Stepping out of her dorm, Penelope realized that she really did not want to attend class that day.

The whole having to interact with people thing was nowhere on her to-do list. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t even anything on it. Which was the first time that had ever happened. 

The raven haired temptress had always been a planner. There was always  _ something _ she had to do, whether it was wreck havoc on the students at the Salvatore School, start drama, help a friend, do homework, visit her family. Anything.

Today there was nothing.

It was currently six thirty a.m. in the morning, which meant that class would start in roughly thirty minutes.  _Basically a lifetime_.

The brunette came to the conclusion that she would not waste her time.

She had over 100% in each of her classes and already knew all the material they were learning, so yes, she was not attending class that day. Of course, she made another decision to make an appearance for one........ _exceptional_ class.

She still had some time to kill because that class wasn’t for another few hours. With her bag slung over one shoulder, she trekked towards the library to study for a little bit when she heard someone call her name, to which her head snapped to look behind her.

It was Maya.

She caught up to Penelope and smiled, a binder in her hand. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a plain white shirt.

“Were you going to the library?”

Penelope’s smile made it easy for someone to overlook her confusion. “I- Yeah.”

Maya’s face brightened. “That’s great. Are you studying for the History quiz?”

It was too late to get out of the situation, Penelope knew. She was hoping she’d get to keep some time in the library to herself, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen.

“Yeah. Do you want to go together?” her own voice spoke before she even comprehended what she wanted to remotely say.

“That would be great,” the latina said and began to follow Penelope through the halls. She strode closely beside her for a few moments before she spoke up again.

“So.......I’ve been told that Mrs. Greasley isn’t really a great teacher. Is that true?” Maya asked as they headed down the stairs.

“She’s alright,” Penelope answered, but her tone said otherwise. She looked over to find Maya smirking at her.

“She’s terrible isn’t she.”

Penelope smiled back, amused. “She is. But she’s MG’s mom so I don’t really have any positive or negative feelings towards her.”

They walked past a group of flag football players and then pushed open the doors of the library. There weren’t too many people in the room. Currently, there were probably around six scattered between shelves, scanning the books sitting in them. There were around 10 sitting at random tables, and a few leaving.

They walked past aisles of books when Lizzie appeared out of one of them and into their path. All three of them stopped.

The blonde’s eyes landed on the two and she gave them a look.

But then she walked away without saying anything.

Penelope and Maya watched her leave before turning to each other.

“Is she all right?” the green eyed girl asked curiously. Not once in all her years of knowing Elizabeth Saltzman did Penelope ever encounter her and not receive a rude yet amusing insult from the girl.

“Beats me.”

They continued walking through the library before reaching one of the square wooden tables next to the window, overlooking the field behind the school.

“So you came from Mystic Falls High, right?” Penelope asked.

Maya nodded. “I wish I could say it was under better circumstances.” She let out a sigh.

“What happened?”

“My brother, Ethan...........got expelled.”

Penelope stayed quiet for a moment, before responding, “Could’ve been worse.”

“No, it’s not just that. The reason he got expelled was because he absolutely  _demolished_ our football coach’s car.”

Penelope frowned in confusion. Maya continued,

“He has a hard time controlling his anger, and I guess this time he just......didn’t. It didn’t help me either, being the sister of the boy with anger management issues. Everyone at school looked at us like we were........monsters.”

The two fell silent.

A screeching noise made them turn their heads, to find Sebastian pulling up a chair next to them.

“As fun as your venting to one another seems, Mrs. Greasley’s teaching skills are inane. And I believe all her periods are learning the same curriculum,” his accented voice spoke.

“Do you need help?” Maya asked, frowning.

“In fact I do.”

Penelope studied the boy, before she whipped her notebook out of her bag. “Then I guess we better get started.”

It had been thirty minutes.

“No, that’s not what Prince Louis did. He lead a mon-.”

“Whatever you say, Romeo The Sixty-Fifth.”

The three had spent the last twenty minutes attempting to study. And yeah, they were but not without a little struggle. Especially since Penelope found Sebastian’s insane ability to remember everything in history the funniest thing.

Sebastian looked at her. “Let me put this simply. Romeo was not-“

“Alright, alright,” Maya interrupted. “I thought we were talking about the French not Romeo and Juli-“

“We are talking about the Fren-“

Penelope smirked and made a face, “I wasn’t. It was  _simply _a figure of speech.”

Maya shot her a look, clearly done with the girl’s antics. “Park, shut up.”

The Asian girl just smiled.

“What if I don’t.”

“Ladies, please,” Sebastian piped in. “We need to study.”

Penelope narrowed her eyes at him in fake annoyance.

“Romeo, shut up.”

Maya set her book down. “Oh, my god. Can you both not?”

“Machado, shut up.”

“You’re all literally children.”

“Oh would you look at the time,” Sebastian changed the subject. “I’ve to head to class. This study session was lovely. See you two around.” He stood up and returned the chair to its original destination before picking up his bag.

“We should do this again sometime.” He smirked and strolled right out of the library.

Penelope just watched him in amusement with wide eyes while Maya just sighed.

“One crackhead gone, one more to go,” she said, and glared straight at Penelope.

The raven-haired girl continued to write in her notebook for a good fifteen seconds before realizing what Maya meant.

“That’s not nice, Machado.”

* * *

Penelope headed back to her room after Maya left and proceeded to do some research for her part on that one project her and Josie were doing about Julius Caesar.

Even though she really didn’t have to. 

She basically knew enough about the guy to be considered his friend. But the girl had a few minutes before she had to leave for class so she just decided,  _why not?_

She scrolled through sites upon sites before her mind started wandering and she began to think about a girl.

Josie Saltzman.

Penelope had no idea what that girl’s deal was. Always closed off. Snarky. Nerd. Always trying to be the perfect everything. And most of all, she hated Penelope. But that was more her fault.

In all honesty, Penelope didn’t really like the girl either. She just liked seeing her face every time she annoyed her.

She could hear the faint sound of the bell ringing, shut her laptop, and slipped it into her bag. The girl moved to her dresser and changed into a white shirt and black pants with a gray Salvatore blazer on top, before heading out of her room with her bag.

Right when she stepped out of the class, Lizzie Saltzman walked passed her again, not acknowledging Penelope’s presence even a bit.

She knew something was off.

The twin’s demeanor was different. It was slightly sluggish, and she wasn’t dressed like Lizzie Saltzman usually did either. She was just in casual clothes, perusing the halls of the Salvatore School. Something the blonde almost never even did.

Penelope called her name.

Lizzie turned around and immediately glared at the raven-haired girl.

_ Well at least we know her burning hatred for me is still thriving,_ Penelope thought.

“What do you want, Park?” she spat out, although just a tad bit softer than usual.

Penelope studied the girl’s features.

“Are you ok?”

Lizzie just scoffed, and continued down her path. But not without an ounce of hesitance that was almost unnoticeable.

_Almost_.

“Are you sure?” Penelope called again when the twin reached the end of the hall, about to turn down the next.

Lizzie just looked at her, and then disappeared behind the corner.

The girl didn’t shrug it off, and decided to ask Josie about it, since she’d be seeing her in a few minutes. And yeah the girl was always the first one in the classroom so it’d be easy.

Penelope mentally slapped herself.

Since when did she care about how Lizzie Saltzman felt? The girl constantly attempted to make the girl’s life a living hell, even though she failed every time. The relationship Penelope had with the Saltzman twins really wasn’t explainable.

Her mind cleared as she approached the History classroom. She could see Mrs. Greasley speaking with someone through the window.

She didn’t know who that someone was until she was walking out the door.

It was Josie.

Penelope was basically right in front of the door at that moment, and the two of them stopped in their tracks.

The brunette was  not fairing as well as her sister, Penelope could tell from her eyes. She looked like she had spent the entire morning crying and her brown eyes wouldn’t meet Penelope’s. They were casted at the ground, and she had her arms crossed across her chest.

Penelope frowned, concerned. “Jojo? Ar-“

“I’m fine,” she said, trying to hold in a sniffle.

Penelope contemplated on reaching out or not. There was something clearly wrong.

“No you’re not. What happe-“

“It’s none of your business, okay Penelope?” Josie snapped before shoving past the girl and quickly striding away, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Penelope just stood there, confused. So the twins were having an off day. A  _really_, off day. Off enough for them to not do what they always did. 

The raven-haired student glanced into the room again. There weren’t that many people in the class, and Mrs. Greasley was sat at her desk, scribbling swiftly on papers she was grading.

So maybe Penelope chose to not attend History either that day. The fun of it wouldn’t be present either so.......was there a point?

She decided to go find where the brunette went. 

She followed down the hall she was headed, almost now empty of students. Josie was nowhere to be seen.

“She’s in the field, on the bleachers,” a voice spoke.

Penelope turned around to find Hope, with her bag slung over one shoulder just as Penelope’s was.

The auburn haired girl gave her a faint nod and a smile tinged with sadness, before turning around and heading to her class.

Ok, so one thing Penelope Park knew was that Josette Saltzman never skipped class. What was she doing on the bleachers?

So the girl walked right out to the flag football field, expecting to see something, practice going on, something. But it was empty.

Except for a lone brunette sitting at the center of the metal bleachers. She wasn’t sitting on the seats, but rather on the steps. Her legs were pulled up so that her chin rested on her knees, and her arms were wrapped around them.

Josie just stared off blankly into the football field unmoving as Penelope inched closer to her, taking easy yet wary steps.

When she was standing at the foot of the bleachers was when Josie saw the girl. The twin rolled her eyes evidently and furiously wiped the tears off of her face, as if trying to hide the fact that she was crying.

Josie ran her fingers through her hair. “Literally what do you want? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

Penelope began walking up the steps and then took a seat beside her. “Yeah, but I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to make you miserable.”

Josie just stayed quiet.

The girl with the green eyes paused, but then moved over so that she was sitting closer to the brunette. She sighed. “I’m joking. I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Josie frowned and looked over at Penelope, narrowing her eyes.

“I don’t believe you.”

Penelope stared back at her in what almost seemed like bewilderment. “Why not?”

“Because,” she started, “That’s not something Penelope Park would do.”

Penelope looked down at her black flats. “I guess you just don’t really know her then.”

They both fell silent.

The tension slowly faded with each passing second. Maybe an hour, years, months, or lifetimes passed, Penelope didn’t know. But she didn’t want to pry, so she just sat there with Josie in the quiet, the only sound coming from rustling leaves in the wind.

“It’s our mom.”

Penelope glanced over to the girl sitting beside her, their shoulders practically touching. Josie wouldn’t meet her gaze, as if she were waiting for Penelope to say something snarky or rude. But she didn’t.

Josie continued, eyes still fixed on the field, “Today marks ten years since she died.......and I know it was a really long time ago and there was no way to prevent it and clearly Lizzie deals with it better than I do but...”

“It still hurts,” Penelope sighed. She looked out in the field as well, missing Josie returning the look the girl was giving her before.

“Yeah.”

Another pause.

Josie let out a shaky breath and looked out into the distance before laughing lightly. “It’s stupid, I know.”

Penelope narrowed her eyes at the girl and frowned. “It’s not stupid at all.”

“Yes it is.”

“Why would it be?”

The twin sighed in defeat. “I should be over it by now. I shouldn’t be crying alone on the bleachers ten years later. I shouldn’t be venting to Penelope Park about all of....... _this.”_

“Yet here you are,” Penelope spoke softly, smirking at the brunette.

Josie sat there for a moment but then moved so that she was facing the raven-haired girl.

“So what’s your deal?” she asked, wiping her excess tears away. “Why are you like this?”

Penelope arched her eyebrows for a moment looking away. “Ouch.”

Josie laughed and shoved her lightly, “No, I meant why are you so........obnoxious?”

“That’s not making it any better, Jojo.”

“Why are you closed off?”

Silence.

Penelope pouted, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do.”

“I just don’t believe that love or feelings is all that........important. I mean yeah, of course they are but we don’t need it.”

Josie just stared back at her.

“I’m shocked but not surprised.”

Penelope shrugged.

“Alright. So if I asked you who you love most in this world, what would you say?”

Penelope smiled but furrowed her eyebrows at the same time, as if that were the most stupidest question one could ask.

“Easy. Myself.”

“See?” Josie gestured at the girl’s face, “Why are you like this?”

“Why can’t I have just turned out this way?”

“There’s no way someone like you could’ve just ‘turned out this way’,” Josie mimicked while altering her voice.

Penelope chuckled, but then stopped. She turned her head to look back at the twin while arching an eyebrow, confused.

“Someone like me?”

Josie seemed almost caught off guard as well but as she was about to respond, a whistle blew from someone exiting the Salvatore School and heading towards the field.

“We’re not supposed to be up here,” Josie cautioned and stood up abruptly.

“Then why were  _ you _ up here?” Penelope asked, still sitting calmly on the steps.

“Because I wanted to be alone now get up,” she latched on to the girl’s arm and yanked her up.

Penelope just smiled, before a “Hey!” echoed through the air.

“Get over here!” the man shouted. He sounded more annoyed and tired than angry.

The two were standing at the bottom of the bleachers now, grass under their shoes. The man was still a little far away from them, so they couldn’t make out his face.

Penelope leaned close to Josie’s ear. “If we cant see him do you think he can see us?”

“No.”

Penelope nodded and stepped back. She saw Josie just standing there, and knew the girl was gonna wait until the guy came over. Because that was Josie Saltzman. Always doing the right thing.

Penelope intertwined their hands and pulled her away around and then under the bleachers.

“What are you  _doing_?” Josie asked in confusion.

Penelope smirked, “There’s something I want to show you.”

“No, you just don’t want to get into trouble.”

“How could I get into trouble when I’m with the headmaster’s daughter?”

Josie just glared at her expectantly.

Penelope sighed, “Alright maybe I don’t want to get into trouble, but there is something I want to show you.”

“Penelope, we cant just leave th-“

“Do you  _really_ wanna go through the struggle of going to the  _ headmaster’s office?_You may be Alaric’s daughter but that’s not gonna stop him from giving you a small lecture about adolescent behavior.”

Josie stayed silent. She glanced in between the stairs of the bleachers and saw the coach coming closer.

Penelope gave her hand a squeeze, and then brown met green. Josie didn’t need to voice her answer for Penelope to know what she was going to say.

* * *

  
The two students stepped onto a small dock opening up to a vast lake, surrounded by a large stretch of evergreen trees. The water looked iridescent, with the numerous colors reflecting off of it.

The wood squeaked a bit as Josie stepped toward the edge.

She gazed into the water below her, eyeing it. “Is this safe?”

And then suddenly something pushed her forward, and she was underwater.

She closed her eyes and held her breath just as she hit the lake. After a moment, Josie opened up her eyes and spun around to find Penelope laughing in the water, sending bubbles up to the surface. They both swam to the top and emerged at the same time.

“Penelope!” Josie exclaimed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

The raven-haired girl was still out of breath from her enjoyment. And she was still laughing.

“I’m sorry,” the girl practically wheezed out, “I- I had to.”

Josie scoffed.

“You  _had_ to? Was someone holding you at gun point and yelling, ‘hey shove Josie into the water or else I’ll kill you?!’ to make you do it?”

Penelope splashed water at the girl, making her even more furious.

Josie groaned in frustration, but then she went quiet.

Penelope’s laughter stopped immediately.

She swam closer to the brunette. “Hey are you okay?”

Josie’s distraught demeanor faded away and her laugh suddenly echoed through the air followed by her splashing water back at Penelope.

“Penelope Park is a softie!” she yelled out loud at the top of her lungs.

Penelope gaped at her, chuckling, “You’re impossible, Josie Saltzman.”

Josie smirked. “You’re insufferable but you don’t see me complaining.”

The raven-haired girl just smiled at the brunette in return, shaking her head at the familiar remark.

After a few moments they swam back to the dock, Penelope getting up first and then helping Josie get out as well. They sat at the edge beside one another.

“So how exactly did you find this place?” Josie asked, intrigued.

Penelope shrugged. “Well.......I was having a really bad day, wandered into the woods, and bam I came across this dock. It’s become one of my favorite places.”

Josie frowned. “I didn’t know you had ‘bad days’. You always look like you’re enjoying life way more than any of us.”

“I think I’m just better at hiding it,” the girl responded, looking out at the water. Her green eyes almost looked blue, mirroring the waves.

They sat there watching time pass by until their clothes were dry enough. Josie watched Penelope as she stood up, turned around and held her hand out to help her up. The twin took it and stood.

They were both standing now, and Josie realized looking down that their hands were still interlocked. With Penelope unconsciously grazing her thumb across Josie’s fingers.

She looked up just as Penelope looked away and pulled her hand back.

“We should probably go back now. I don’t think that guy is there anymore, but he probably told your dad about what he saw,” she told her.

Josie nodded, and began walking back, Penelope following behind her. A confining feeling settled in the back of Josie’s mind, nagging at her for several minutes until Penelope spoke up.

“If you’re worried about your dad, he’s not going to punish you or anything. We all know that. And it’s your mom’s day. He understands how you and Lizzie feel. Maybe even more than we think. You’ll be ok.”

Josie smiled at the girl’s honesty. She would’ve never guessed that Penelope had a heart made of anything but stone. And yeah she knew that her dad wouldn’t be mad at her. She knew her dad never even blamed her for anything.

But that’s not what was on her mind as they approached the school. And that wasn’t on her mind when she fell asleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we just take a moment and talk about the end of 2x04. Lizzie saying Hope’s full name. That shit was breathtaking bro.  
Also there’ll be more of the other characters next chapter so buckle up;) Might throw in Alyssa Chang if I’m feeling up to it lmao.
> 
> Leave feedback! (Only if you want tho ofc)


	6. Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paint. Things get out of hand.

The weeks following that day passed by in a blur, especially now that they were filled with less hatred boiling from the Saltzman twins towards Penelope.

It was quite a development, actually, in her opinion. That day had been the first time they acknowledged her as a real, living, _breathing_ person, and not a demon sent from Hell since they had first met, so she intended not to mess that up.

So yeah, Penelope was pretty pleased with herself for earning their trust. Or at least their respect.

It was a weird feeling because, well, usually Penelope didn't care about stuff like that unless it involved her best friends, like MG. Or Maya. But the Saltzman twins? She would've never thought that that day would come.

It was now Saturday, and _awfully_ early (4:45 AM to be exact), and the sun hadn't even risen yet. The girl decided to make a quick visit to the gym since there had ought to be no one there that early on a weekend. And she didn't feel like having someone present in the room as she beat up a punching bag, as much as she loved showing off.

The reason she wanted to go wasn't because she wanted to, but actually because she wasn't tired. At all. She hadn't been catching any sleep the past few nights.

Hence why she was awake, again, at 4 AM in the morning.

The raven-haired girl changed into black leggings and threw on a black jacket over her maroon sports bra. She slipped on her running shoes, and packed a small duffel bag before heading out of her dorm room and downstairs silently.

She was so focused on watching the dark corridors of the school and not making a sound through the floorboards that she didn't realize that the dim lights of the gym were on.

She only realized it as she pushing the doors open, stepping inside.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she was met by a sweaty Jed standing in the middle of the gym, occupying the space held for the punching bag.

He smirked as his eyes landed on her.

"Hey cousin," he called amused, "what brings you here _very questionably early _on this fine morning?"

Penelope eyed him, feeling herself slightly tense up.

"I could ask you the same thing."

The asian boy shrugged, "I just wanted to land a few punches at this nice bag here before the day started. I've got a lot I have to do today."

Penelope tossed her bag aside and walked over to the shelf against the wall, where numerous pairs of fingerless gloves were held. She took the red pair and pulled them on.

She walked over to stand five feet across from Jed, the punching bag the only thing separating them.

"Oh yeah? What do you have to do today?"

Jed scoffed, and then put either of his blue-gloved hands on the sides of the bag, gesturing for Penelope to throw a punch.

"I have to meet with my dad and your mom," he said finally as his cousin swung a punch at the bag. Once Twice.

"Why?" she asked as her punches and jabs started to grow harsher, "And isn't your dad in Belgium?"

Jed dodged past the bag and threw a punch with his left arm at Penelope unexpectedly, who evaded it by stepping back and then responded with an uppercut, punching the boy in the ribs.

He stepped back from the hit, clutching his navy blue tank top above the spot that received the punch.

"He came back for the weekend to discuss some business matters," he replied, before kicking his leg out to trip the girl, but she spun and stepped over it.

Penelope tried punching Jed in the chest but he dodged and ended up behind her, shoving her in the back hard, towards the ground.

The raven-haired girl did a somersault and ended up back on her feet, whipping around swiftly and throwing her fists up in front of her face.

"What business matters?"

Jed chuckled calmly, with his hands on his hips. "You know what business matters."

Penelope tried punching but he ducked around, then wrapped his arms around her from behind, locking her in place. It made it impossible for her to move her arms.

The boy continued, tauntingly, "So what's up with you and Josie?"

Penelope pushed her hands down, elbowing Jed in the stomach and making him lose his grip. She escaped his grasp and put some space between them.

"Nothing's up."

Her cousin bent over slightly, his hands against his knees and his breathing heavy.

"Alright. Sure. Whatever you say."

Penelope turned around and glared at her cousin. "What makes you ask?”

Jed shook his head, still doubled over, "Oh, I was just wondering. Also have you been taking private lessons for our self defense class or something?" he huffed out, "I don't remember Alaric teaching us any of those moves during the day."

Penelope just shrugged before she made her way to her bag, deciding not to waste anymore time. Clearly coming to the gym was a bad idea, and the boy's words were starting to annoy her.

Then suddenly she was in a headlock, with Jed's strong arm restricting her airflow slowly.

"Okay, cousin. Let's see if you can get out of-"

Penelope grabbed onto Jed's arm and the back of his neck before pulling forward. The motion caused him to flip over her shoulder and slam into the blue gym mat, flat on his back.

Penelope knelt down, smirking down at Jed, who peered up at her upside down.

"Well, _cousin,_ it seems like you need more practice. I'm getting kind of tired of kicking your ass."

The short girl stood up and began walking away just to be interrupted by the black haired boy again, who kicked the back of her knee, making her fall onto the ground as well.

They both recovered and got back on their feet at the same time.

"So?" Jed questioned. They were walking in a circle now, staring each other down.

Penelope frowned dubiously. "So what?"

Jed smiled, as if it were obvious, "Why are _you_ here right now?"

"I couldn't sleep."

Jed lunged at her but as Penelope side stepped, he whipped his arm around and tried to hit her in the ribs.

The girl caught his arm just as he kicked his leg out and made her fall onto her back. He turned over to stand on top of her.

"Well, we all know how this is supposed to end," was all he said as Penelope glared daggers up at her cousin. He stared right back at her for a few moments, before stepping off. Penelope stared up at the wooden ceiling as Jed walked away to grab his bag that was laying along the edge of the mat.

He left the gym without saying anything else, leaving Penelope alone with those words hanging in the air.

The teenager rolled onto her side and then pushed herself up to her feet, grimacing. She had a feeling she'd be covered in bruises the following day, with the way her body was slightly aching.

But her cousin's words echoed throughout her mind for the rest of the morning, and when she headed back to her room, she didn't end up falling asleep like she wanted to.

* * *

"Do you think I look better in white or blue?"

"Blue. It makes your eyes look brighter. And who asked you on this _'date'_ again?"

Lizzie sighed and looked at her sister through their mirror.

"Sebastian did. And I just have a feeling that this date will turn out to be great, so I want to look stunning." Her gaze returned back to herself, holding the blue top in her right hand and a white one in her left. She examined both carefully.

Josie set her book on her bedside table and sat up.

"Where are you guys going?"

The blonde winced, "He said I could choose and he was fine with anything. But I have no idea what to do."

"Do you know him that well?"

Lizzie shrugged, "Not really, but he seems like a nice guy. Penelope said he was."

Josie's interest perked up at the mention of the girl's name. She made eye contact with her twin through the mirror on accident, and her thoughts were clear on her face.

And Lizzie, of course, noticed.

The blonde spun around and eyed her sister, curiously.

"So what's up with you and Miss Satan?"

"What?" said Josie, her eyes wide.

Lizzie pouted, innocently, "It's just that you two seem like you've been getting a little, oh I don't know, _close?"_

The brunette looked away and picked up the book she had been reading. Opening up to a random page, she lied back down on her bed and hid her blush with the object.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lizzie narrowed her eyes at her sister, before walking over and snatching the book out of her hands. Josie looked at her incredulously.

"Hey!"

"Uh uh, nope. You do _not_ get to lie this time."

"What?"

The twin rolled her eyes.

_"Duh._ Jo, I'm not a _mind reader,_ but I can tell head on when someone is lying to my face. Especially if that someone is my _sister_."

Josie sat up again and gazed at the floor. Of course Lizzie could tell.

"I don't know why I did body shots with Penelope," Josie stated, still avoiding eye contact. But it was true. She had no idea why she chose to play that game with Penelope. It was like something inside of her _made_ her do it. Like an impulse. "And nothing is going on with us. We just had a........_bonding moment__,_ I guess is what you could call it."

She told her sister about how Penelope comforted her on the bleachers, and how she........was _not_ mean and cold like she always was. She was actually _nice, _something neither of the Saltzman twins knew she could be. However, Josie did decide to leave out the more questioning details, like the dock and the water and-

"You're not telling me something."

"What?"

"Josette, my mind may be messed up but I am not stupid."

That made Josie stop her train of thought immediately.

She looked straight into her sister's blue eyes.

"You're not messed up, Lizzie," Josie intervened out of the blue.

The blonde glared at her. "Jo, that wasn't the point-"

"No," the brown-eyed twin silenced her, "you're _not_ messed up."

They regarded each other silently, before Lizzie let out a breath. She laughed lightly while taking a seat beside Josie on her bed. "Try telling that to _everyone_ in the school."

"Everyone's opinions don't matter. You're Elizabeth Saltzman. My sister,-"

"Your best friend," finished Lizzie, doing nothing to contain the smile on her face. A silence fell over them once again. It was a comfortable one, nonetheless.

"I love you, Jo."

A beat passed before Josie smirked.

"Well.......you better. I'm amazing."

Lizzie frowned, disgusted. "Ew, Penelope Park's ego is rubbing off on you." She stood up and walked back over to the mirror at the front of their room.

"Are you sure it isn't because of someone else?"

Lizzie considered it for a moment, before seeing the expression her sister had on her face, clearly holding in a laugh.

"Alright, so maybe I don't love you."

* * *

"You need to just go and ask her out."

“No.”

Rafael glared at his best friend, bewildered. “Dude,  it’s not that hard.”

Landon dismissed his prompting, watching Hope who was standing down the hall talking to Alaric, in front of one of the classes. Staring longingly at the girl until she noticed him, like _really _noticed him, seemed better than going out on a limb just to be undoubtedly rejected in the end. 

“What if she says no,” he asked, never taking his eyes off of the girl.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try,” MG’s voice piped in. The two turned around to see the boy smiling behind them.  “Trust me, I’ve-“

“-been pining after Lizzie Saltzman since the beginning of time,” Penelope’s voice spoke as she strolled past the trio, not stopping to greet them or spare them anything other than that remark.

As soon as she disappeared down the hall, the three turned back to each other.

“So what did you do? I mean, what are you doing?” Landon asked curiously. His shoes tapped nervously against the wooden floor beneath them. 

“I’m scrappy and persistent. I’m the only one in this school who knows her for who she really is,” he paused, before adding, “besides Josie.”

MG looked down the hall at Hope, and then back at Landon.

“Hope won’t see you like that _that_ easily, that’s for sure. Just be yourself. That’s all anyone can ask for.”

Landon gave the brown eyed boy a small smile as he bid Raf and him a farewell and walked away.

The curly-haired boy looked over at his best friend and smirked.

“That was actually really good advice,” Rafael pointed out. He looked back down the hall, where the headmaster now stood conversing with a different student.

Landon shrugged. “Yeah. Although..........I don’t know if I’d be willing to wait the rest of my life for Hope Mikaelson like MG would for Lizzie.”

* * *

The door to Room 23 flew open to reveal an auburn haired girl smiling brightly.

The Saltzman twins sat up from their places on their respective beds.

Josie eyed the individual.

“Um, hi Hope-“

“He said yes.”

Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “You asked Landon out? Finally.”

Hope’s smile dissipated within a second. “No- I- What?”

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the Mikaelson’s response. Of course she wouldn’t do that. 

“Then why are you here? Who said yes? What did he say yes to?”

Hope took a deep breath and looked between the twins, before explaining more calmly, “So I asked your dad about this art thing that’s going on in Mystic Falls’ town square tonight. He said it sounded cool but I should-“

“No,” Lizzie said flatly.

“You didn’t even hear what I was going to say!”

“You were going to say that our dad wants us to go with you. I can’t. I have a  date with a boy tonight.”

Hope sighed in defeat, but then looked over at Josie.

“I mean.......I’ll go. I have nothing better to do.”

And it was true. It was Saturday, and she was planning on just binge watching shows on Netflix by herself that night. Or taking a nap, or studying, or anything else. Why miss the opportunity? It's not like she'd have to interact with that many people.

“That’s great! You can bring whoever you want too-“

“Like MG?”

“Yeah you can bring him.”

Lizzie’s groan of annoyance silenced the two.

She sat in silence with her blue eyes closed, before asking quietly,

“Would it be alright if I brought Sebastian? We didn't have anything planned, so...."

“Yes!” Hope chimed, even happier. “You could ask him to bring someone too.”

Lizzie nodded, and then fell back onto her bed, covering herself with the white sheets.

Hope shifted her weight awkwardly between her feet, standing at the front of their room for a good minute before intertwining her fingers together.

“I think that’s, um, all I came to say.”

“Bye Hope,” Lizzie commanded from under the layers of blankets. Josie waved at the auburn-haired girl as she spun around and exited the room, the door shutting with a click.

A second later, Lizzie peeked out from her bed.

Josie watched the door for a minute, hearing Hope’s footsteps disappear, before looking over at her sister, frowning.

“So do you think-“

The blonde suddenly disappeared back under her blankets, avoiding whatever question her twin was about to ask.

* * *

Josie threw on a plain, gray Salvatore School t-shirt and a black skirt because according to Hope, wearing something 'easily replaceable' would be a good idea.

“I’m  terrible at painting. The last time we did that was for Art Class in freshman year,” Lizzie complained, although she didn’t seem too frustrated about going. She changed into the blue shirt that she was planning on wearing before, saying something around the lines that it was ‘worth sacrificing’ before putting it on.

Josie shrugged in response just as a knock echoed off their door and it opened to reveal MG, in a red shirt and jeans.

He smiled at the two of them.

“So, are we ready?”

Hope appeared beside him, smiling too.

“We’ve gotta go. The thing is in thirty minutes, and the other guys are already there.”

“Who else is coming?” Josie asked curiously. With a little bit of anxiety.

Hope contemplated for a moment and leaned against the dresser by the door, “_Sebastian,_ who invited _Jed,_ who invited _Raf_, who then invited  _Landon_. ”

MG held up his hand. “I also invited Kaleb.”

“Oh, right,” Hope tapped the dresser, “I know Maya and her brother were also invited. I don’t know by who,” she looked down and scrunched her eyebrows together,concentrating. “I feel like we’re forgetting someone.”

Lizzie laughed. “I didn’t know this many people liked painting.”

Just then, someone else appeared in the doorway and knocked at the three times. The four looked back to see who was the unexpected visitor.

“Alyssa?” Lizzie asked standing up. Her eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”

An Asian girl stepped into the room and smiled. She waved at Hope and Josie. “My mom and I are staying in Mystic Falls for the weekend. I thought I’d drop by and say........I don’t know......hi?”

All of the teenagers just stood and stared at one another.

The quietness broke as MG held out his hand.

“MG. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Alyssa took his hand and shook it.

“Alyssa Chang.”

MG stared back at her in awe. "_Alyssa Chang__? _The one that supposedly punched Alaric Saltzman in the face-"

The girl let out a laugh. "That _never_ happened. Those were all rumors. Although I did help Penelope put the 'you know what' in the drinks during freshman year before I had to leave."

As soon as they let go of each others' hands, the girl scrunched her eyebrows up in curiosity.

“What’s all this for?” she gestured to their outfits. “Are you guys going somewhere?”

Hope glanced at her friends in realization. “Oh! We’re going to this thing in the town square.....tonight......it’s for this whole art-“

“Do you want to come with us?” Lizzie interrupted the shorter girl.

Alyssa glanced at the blonde in surprises. “I- sure. Let me go change first. These clothes seem a little too formal.”

Josie let out a breath, watching the scene unfold. So there were going to be a lot more people in the town square than she thought.

_Well, _ she pondered,  _at least I won’t have to deal with Penelope Park._

* * *

Lights were strung across the trees of the park in the town square, highlighting the dark trees all around them. There were people scattered all around, talking and laughing amongst themselves.

As Hope, Josie, Lizzie, MG, and Alyssa approached the center of the park, they were greeted by Maya and Ethan Machado. They looked like they had been laughing at something just then, and as their eyes fell on the five friends, their smiles just grew.

”Hey guys,” Maya greeted. She looked over at her brother, who grinned at her in response before turning back to the them.

”Um, so what exactly are we painting?” he questioned.

Everyone turned to look at Hope, the shortest one out of the whole group.

Her blue eyes went wide. “Oh, we can just paint anything I’m pretty sure.”

”And why are they letting us do this?” asked Alyssa.

Hope looked back at the girl, “They’re raising money for a foster care that’s located somewhere between New Orleans and Mystic Falls.”

Everyone’s lips formed an oh, realization dawning on them. So that was the purpose for all of, well, this.

A bell chimed, signaling the start of the event.

All the people around gathered towards the middle of the town square, around where the fountain was placed. There was a gazebo off in the distance too Strewn around were white canvases sitting on wooden easels. There were so many, it would’ve been almost impossible to count with the human eye.

A woman’s voice over a megaphone yelled, “Alright, every one of you have gotta get with a partner or else your life will be difficult!”

”What?” the Machados, MG, Lizzie, Josie and Alyssa all turned toward Hope, who threw her hands up, confused.

”They never said anything about partners okay just go with it.”

“What does she mean by ‘your life will be difficult’?” Josie asked cautiously, but did not receive an answer of any sort. Hope was already looking away at Landon Kirby, who was staring right back at her.

Josie turned toward her sister, who was disappearing with Sebastian. MG was walking towards Kaleb, and Maya and Ethan, unsurprisingly, teamed up together.

She turned around to see Alyssa Chang still standing behind her, alone. They made eye contact.

Confidently, Alyssa took the first step forward. “Do you wann-“

Before she could finish asking her question she was being pulled away by......_Kym?_

Josie swore under her breath and scanned the faces around her. Raf was already with Jed, so he wasn’t an option.

Her brown eyes glanced behind her again, and then at anyone in her proximity, hoping that someone familiar would just appear out of smoke.

Fate may or may not have been on her side as she made that wish.

Because suddenly Penelope Park was there, standing 3 feet away from her wearing a red shirt and black pants, a jacket wrapped around her waist.

She smirked.

”Hey, Jojo.”

Josie's jaw dropped open in shock.

”Penelope what are you doing here?” The brunette asked as the shorter girl took her hand and lead them to an unoccupied canvas.

”Kaleb invited me. And I invited the Machados, which is why they’re here.”

There was a seat in front of the easel and one positioned behind it. Since Penelope sat in the latter, Josie sat in the one in front, clearly meant for the painter.

”Why did Kaleb invite you?”

Penelope shrugged. “He said it was payment for always helping MG out with his _crush.”_

As Josie was about to drown her in more questions, the lady spoke up again.

”Okay, now, canvas people,” she started, “what you’re gonna do first is you’re gonna want to make your partner get into a position-“ Josie could see Penelope look at her and wiggle her eyebrows in the corner of her eye, “-that will be easy for you to paint. Or at least sketch.”

The twin watched as people got up and started conversing with their counterpart. Josie looked at Penelope, who was sitting in contentment and smiling excitedly.

“So?”

Josie sighed, stood up, and walked up to the girl.  She told her where to place her feet and hands. When she tried to tell her how to angle her neck however, the girl wouldn’t comply. It pissed Josie off, just a  little bit, but she didn’t let that get the better of her.

She knew that was just how Penelope was.

“I’m gonna get a neck cramp like that.”

“Deal with it. You came despite having to go through all of this,” Josie shot back.

“For one,” the raven-haired girl started, feeling Josie push her backward just a little bit, “I wasn’t aware we would have to do  _this. _ For two,“ she continued as Josie angled her arms forward, “I wanted to annoy you again.”

“So you came just to see me?”

Penelope smirked. “Yup,” she said, proudly.

Instead of attempting to tell her to move her neck again, Josie took Penelope’s face into her hands and tried to angle it to the left herself. As soon as she did, though, the girl looked up, ruining her intentions, and smiled.

“Hi!” she said cheerfully, knowing that she was irritating the brunette. She leaned into Josie’s touch, her face still grasped in the taller girl's hands.

“You look like a turtle.”

“I know.”

Josie couldn’t withhold the smile that was suddenly plastered on her face. Something about Penelope’s soft demeanor made her feel.....giddy.

A beat passed, of the two just smiling at each other.

And it wasn’t like Josie noticed Penelope’s gaze move down to her lips.

Before anyone could say anything, Josie shoved Penelope’s face away playfully with a smirk and walked back to her chair.

“I’ll just make you headless.”

“Wait, no I’m sorry!” Penelope exclaimed laughing, “I swear I’ll stop. I promise.”

Josie sat back down in front of the canvas and picked up the pencil that was set in front of it. She heard a loud giggle echo through the night air, and glanced past several people to see Hope and Landon surprisingly laughing together.

”Despite the amount of times Landon has had to deal with drunk Hope, I always knew they were gonna fall in love.” Penelope didn’t even bat an eyelash or look behind herself to know where the noise came from.

Josie shot Penelope a look. “They could be just........really good friends, you know. Although, I’m pretty sure Hope hasn’t even considered Landon as an acquaintance.”

”Some people aren’t meant to be just friends, Jojo. And Hope and Landon are an example of that.”

* * *

The sketch, which included just the top half of Penelope’s body, turned out better than Josie had expected. And the raven-haired girl kept her promise throughout the majority of it which helped. Quite a lot, actually, albeit she would not stop squirming a little every five minutes.

Apparently now, though, the two were gonna have to work together to paint it. The colors evident in real life weren't going to be too difficult to add, but working with Penelope Park wasn’t exactly something Josie was used to.

A large palette was placed on a mini table beside the easel, with numerous colors available. There had to be at least 4 different shades of each color.

Josie glanced over at Penelope, who was now standing beside her.

”Painting isn’t one of my strengths,” the twin said timidly. She took her brush and dipped it into the black.

Penelope arched her eyebrow and frowned, before responding, “I mean, it’s not really one of mine either.”

Josie’s hand lowered as she looked over at Penelope. ”You? Admitting that you’re not good at something?” She laughed in disbelief.

”Maybe I don’t feel like being the devil today.”

Josie grinned. “Oh? And why’s that?”

As Penelope was about to say something, the megaphone lady interrupted them _again,_ along with the entire park.

”START PAINTING NOW!” she yelled, way too excitedly. Half the people in the woman’s vicinity jumped, including Josie.

Penelope nonchalantly picked up a brush and dipped it into a bright shade of red, matching her shirt.

“So how does Lizzie feel about you......... _interacting_ with me?”

Josie frowned, letting the brush paint smoothly across the sheet. “Since when do you care about how Lizzie feels?”

“Did you tell her about the dock?”

Josie’s eyes fell. ”No.”

”How did she react about the shots during MG’s party?”

“She didn’t really....react,” Josie quipped, uncertainty in her voice.

Penelope caught on to it.

”Why didn’t you tell her about it?”

”Nothing happened during the shot game.”

Penelope furrowed her eyebrows together, keeping her gaze on the painting. “I meant about the dock.”

A quiet _oh_ escaped Josie’s lips, just above a whisper.

She really didn’t feel like having that conversation at the moment. Especially since she had no idea how to respond and there was no way to avoid it. She did ponder on different ways of _escaping,_ however. But none of those options were available, disappointingly. 

The brunette looked over at the green eyed girl beside her, who was dead focused on painting the outline of her shirt.

”Well,” Josie started, watching Penelope’s paint brush flow gracefully along the canvas, “I didn’t feel like undergoing my sister’s berating.”

Penelope snorted. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sebastian and Lizzie undeniably flirting with one another. MG, standing beside Kaleb behind them, seemed more enthralled by Kym at the moment, who looked like she was getting along with Alyssa Chang astoundingly. The Machados were elbowing each other, while Jed and Rafael were awfully absorbed into finishing the painting, speaking a limited amount of words to one another.

And of course, Landon Kirby making Hope Mikaelson smile across the park.

Penelope got back to painting, finishing the red shirt and the small details. Josie filled in the rest. Including her eyes, which she made a very dark yet _vibrant_ green that Penelope tried to make an objection against. But the twin said that’s what they actually looked like, and it was also too late to change it, of course.

Penelope still believed they looked _way_ too.....perfect.

Everyone was finished with their artwork and illustrations within the next hour. There wasn’t any competition between the townspeople, but if there were, all the Salvatore students knew that Hope’s painting of Landon would’ve definitely won. There was no question about it.

Josie's artistic abilities though, Penelope realized, were _far_ from terrible. They could've almost been as good as Hope's, with time and practice.

People were cleaning up now, moving easels and chairs around and into trucks. The blonde, old lady with the megaphone was nowhere to be seen, and the air was slightly chilly, seeing as though there was one more hour ‘til midnight. And midnight meant that the lights strung among the trees were going to be packed away. The streetlights and lampposts though stayed on throughout the night. 

There were still many tables scattered around, with palettes and cups of paint sitting on them. There were paint brushes on them, and on the ground. People, including Penelope and Josie, were sent to scrounge around and pick them up.

After several minutes of searching, the shorter girl stopped and sat down at a nearby chair. Her and Josie both had lots of mini paint splatters on their clothes.

”Are you tired to continue?” Josie chimed jokingly, “or are you too pretty?”

”Both,” Penelope breathed out dramatically.

Josie just shook her head and smiled, continuing to search for anything that may have fallen into the grass.

”You know, apparently there was supposed to be a water balloon fight after this,” she informed.

Penelope glanced up at the lights. “Do you hear that?”

The twin halted her movements. ”Hear what?”

Penelope shushed her, holding a finger up.

It took a moment.

Then Josie heard it.

Faint music coming from one of the stores close by. It was just down the street, one of the only ones still open. Every other store was dark with a neon _“closed”_ sign hanging against the window.

Penelope stood up and put the few paint brushes she was holding down where she had just been sitting. She bowed elegantly and offered Josie her hand.

”May I have this dance?” she asked politely, trying to stop herself from giggling.

Josie let out a laugh. A real, _genuine_ laugh.

Penelope hadn’t heard anything like it.

And she hadn’t seen anything like the blush that crept upon the brunette’s face when their hands touched from Josie's acceptance.

The girl with the green eyes put her hand on Josie’s waist while the latter put her’s on Penelope’s shoulder. They started to slowly move to the music.

If one listened close enough, they could’ve heard the lyrics of the song, ever so quietly.

Penelope’s heeled shoes made her stand at the same height as Josie, who had been looking past Penelope, at her sister who was beyond intrigued by Sebastian’s every move. The brunette had been distracted, but when she looked back and saw green eyes staring into her’s, her heart beat stuttered.

They continued dancing, just swaying to the music in the dark-lit park.

_we can dance if we want to_

_we can leave your friends behind._

Josie could _most definitely_ feel herself slowly leaning into Penelope’s soft touch, so close that she could hear the quiet sigh she let out.

A second later, they pulled apart, just a bit, and Josie couldn’t stop her eyes from dropping down to the girl’s perfect lips. She could see Penelope’s gaze too, glancing at her lips as well as if she were in a trance.

_cause your friends don’t dance_

The hand that was holding onto Penelope's intertwined their fingers, and the two leaned in closer to each other’s embrace.

_and if they don’t dance_

Their foreheads fell against one another and Josie closed her eyes, feeling the whole world slowly melt away.

_then they’re no friends of-_

“EXCUSE ME?”

The two girls jumped apart so quickly one of them may as well have been on fire.

The voice belonged to none other than Lizzie Saltzman.

Josie looked around, expecting to see her sister storming towards her, furious once again that not only was she spending time with the one person she shouldn’t have been with, but actually trying to _kiss_ her too.

Josie’s eyebrows suddenly shot up.

_I almost kissed Penelope Park._

She looked at the Asian girl, who was blinking rapidly and studying their surroundings like she had just woken up from a dream. The moment of shock was short lived as they both realized why Lizzie had yelped out loud.

Landon had accidentally spilled paint on her.

_A lot of it._

Before Penelope or Josie could acknowledge what had just happened between them, they both rushed to get to the middle of the commotion growing. There weren’t that many people left in the park, but the rest of them for sure had already gathered around to see what was happening.

As they walked they passed by several wooden crates, but Josie didn’t have time to think about them. 

_”No amount of name-calling is going to get you out of this one, Landon Kirby,” _the blonde snapped.

Landon looked absolutely terrified. He stood there unmoving as if-

“He’s about to witness Medusa’s wrath,” Kaleb uttered to MG. They appeared beside the brunette.

Josie glared at the boy. ”My sister isn’t Medusa.”

”She’s right,” MG agreed, not daring to look at Kaleb, who shot him a look.

Their attention returned back to the scene right when Lizzie grabbed a cup of paint from Hope, who was standing beside Landon, and tossed it right on his shirt, turning it from green into yellow.

A bunch of _ooooooohs_ were let out through the crowd.

Landon nodded vigorously, wiping a drop of paint off his cheek. "Alright. I deserved that."

It was even now, seeing as though her light blue shirt was covered in an ugly, dark brown color now.

No one would have anticipated what happened next.

Kym appeared out of the group of people and threw a water balloon square at her brother’s chest, drenching him. He stepped back in bewilderment.

Kaleb looked at her incredulously as the whole park went silent.

Her smile disappeared.

”I- Was that not what we were doing?”

No one responded.

”That’s exactly what we were doing,” Maya said laughing as her and Ethan emerged with a bunch of water balloons in their hands.

_Oh. So that’s what the crates were for._

And suddenly all of Mystic Falls’ Central Park was in chaos.

Josie ran and took cover behind a tree as paint and water balloons started flying through the air. Shouts and laughs echoed throughout the night as MG appeared behind a nearby tree as well, wheezing.

“Jo, there’s a crate _right_ behind your tree. It’s still filled with balloons.”

Josie stared at him, shocked, ”MG, I’m _not_ stepping a _foot_ into that war zone. My dad is gonna kill all of us.”

He laughed. “If you say so,” and then he ran into the battlefield.

Josie could’ve sworn she heard her friend let out a scream of horror five seconds later.

The twin leaned against the tree, closing her eyes to try and think. So basically, the only way to get out of the park was if she either walked straight through it or around, both plausible yet dangerous ideas. She’d be seen either way, and there was no option for her to choose where she would remain unscathed by the few residents of Mystic Falls.

So Josie retreated from the tree anyway, deciding to walk _right_ through the park, hoping with all her soul that she could achieve the impossible.

She instantly knew she was screwed when she stepped a foot away from the tree’s protection.

“MG told me you were hiding over here,” the girl laughed out. She had a water balloon in her hand. The worst part? She was standing beside the crates.

”Penelope,” Josie pleaded, “We’ll all get in trouble.”

”You think your dad is gonna get mad at _all_ of us? Really?” Penelope scoffed. “How do you think Elizabeth Bennet got a happy ending?”

Josie stared at her, confused. ”Um, well, she got......married?”

They both ducked as a water balloon flew over their heads.

Penelope laughed. “With that response, I’m convinced you never actually liked Pride and Prejudice to begin with.”

“What are you trying to say, hm?”

”You know, for being smart you’re pretty dense. What about every romance novel out there?”

Josie just stood there expectantly with her eyebrow raised.

The girl was clearly not going to give in, so Penelope continued, ”Following the rules never got anyone anywhere.”

”And your point?”

Penelope sighed, shaking her head. 

”You're an enigma, Jojo. For once in your life, just......live.”

She raised the huge water balloon in her hand.

Josie’s eyes widened in terror.

“No- No Penelope, I swear, if you do this I’ll never forgive you.”

Penelope squinted her eyes and hummed, pondering.

”Either I throw this and regret throwing it, or I don’t throw this and regret not throwing it.”

She shrugged and smiled.

”NO PENELOPE I SWEAR-“

Suddenly the brunette was soaked in water, her once dry clothes now sticking to her skin.

Josie just stood there, not sure how she was feeling. All she knew was that she was mad. No, _infuriated._ Especially since Penelope stood there looking as happy as ever, with that goddamn smirk on her face.

The smirk the twin desperately wanted to wipe off.

”I hate you,” Josie spoke in the most deadliest calm voice ever.

Penelope chuckled.

”I know.”

The raven haired girl bent down, retrieved another balloon, and threw it-

But Hope came into the picture out of nowhere and caught it, smiling radiantly.

”Mikaelson, why are you always ruining my fun?” Penelope asked, sadly.

Hope was handing Josie the water balloon while holding another one in her other hand as she responded, mischievously, “My girl was unarmed. It wasn’t a fair fight.” Her and Josie laughed as they both threw the balloons at Penelope at the same time.

But two boys running past, who were already covered in paint everywhere, interceded the hits instead. They stopped dead in their tracks.

”Hope Mikaelson. Josette Saltzman.”

Landon said their names as if they were a threat. Him and Rafael both looked at them dead in the eye.

Hope smiled apologetically, her blue eyes wide.

”Oh hey Landon. Raf.” She bowed her head to acknowledge them. In the back, she could see Penelope Park slowly backing away, laughing.

”You know,” Landon spoke, his words directed at Rafael, but just loud enough so that the two girls could hear, “I was thinking that returning these bottles of fresh paint would be a good idea.” Sure enough, he held up two full bottles of paint in his hands.

”You know what would be an even better idea?”

Rafael seemed to catch onto his drift as the green eyed boy handed him the purple container of paint.

Before Hope and Josie could protest, Rafael and Landon were already dowsing them in blue and purple.

“So you spill paint on me and now you’re terrorizing my _sister?!_”

Landon and Raf paused and whipped around to find the blonde twin standing beside Penelope Park, who was grinning wickedly.

She shot Josie a wink and a finger gun.

Josie frowned in confusion.

Were Penelope and Lizzie......._teaming up?_

_I’m dreaming, _Josie thought to herself.

“Landon Kirby, next time you should think twice before-“

Lizzie was interrupted by a water balloon exploding against her arm.

Yet instead it was filled with green paint instead.

Sebastian had thrown it.

The six looked over at him as if he had just set off a bomb.

He threw his hands up in mock surrender.

”It was a marvelous idea-“

The boy was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a balloon also filled with yellow paint. It splattered all over his white t-shirt.

”That I gave to you.” MG broke in, accompanied by Kaleb, Kym, and Alyssa. They were all drenched in water and paint too.

Josie decided to seize the moment and escape, and when she turned around-

Maya and Ethan came rushing toward all of them and squirted bottles of paint at everyone, laughing at the top of their lungs in sheer amusement.

As they were about to run off, Jed came up from behind a tree and threw two water balloons at each of their faces. They both halted and tumbled onto one another.

The Asian boy picked up a spare cup on a table close to him and walked towards them, balloons from Mystic Falls civilians flying over his head.

"You two have been attending the Salvatore School for what? Two, three months? And you think you can get away with-"

A water balloon filled with green paint exploded on Jed's face, catching him by surprise and making him stumble.

Penelope had been the one to send the balloon her cousin’s way. She was originally aiming for his arm, but got a bullseye in return. Yeah she knew he was going to retaliate, but nevertheless, she persisted.

She grabbed another water balloon and threw it at him as Rafael got another one and threw it at him too.

Jed took both hits, attempting to shield himself with his hands, before picking up a cup of paint nearby and splashing it on them in return. Some of it got onto Lizzie in the process, which did not brighten her mood one bit.

”Hey!” she yelled, before getting flooded by paint from the Machado siblings, who were back on their feet, better than ever.

Josie had no choice but to help her sister, running over to a table and getting a bottle of pink paint herself. She aimed it at Maya, but got hit by three water balloons, all from Hope, Landon, and Penelope. Her gray shirt and her skin were now covered in different colors.

It was fine, in Josie’s opinion, since Sebastian seemed to be trying to take the hits for Lizzie after that.

Kym and Kaleb began throwing a barrage of water and paint at Maya and Ethan, all of them laughing so hard that they could barely breathe. And MG and Penelope started soaking each other in paint too, their faces beaming.

Somewhere along the way all fourteen of them began throwing paint and water balloons at one another as more from random townspeople who had come for the event flew overhead.

All the worries of her and Lizzie’s dad getting mad seemed to disappear from her mind.

And Josie realized within those moments, drenched in paint and water, that not only were all her friends, and even her sister, laughing from all the fun they were having, but she herself was too. And she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so alive.

The residents of Mystic Falls continued on like that until midnight, when the lights above their heads shut off and the next day began.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i- well- leave feedback? H- how are you feeling? Do you need to sit down for a lil bit? Do you need tea? Water? My twitter?
> 
> Edit: It’s not @_voidmaximcff anymore its actually @mayasaddiction if you wanna follow it 👉🏼👈🏼


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